Elon Musk Makes an Offer to Buy Twitter for $43 Billion
Elon Musk and his relationship with Twitter has been an interesting one over the years and it has led him to make a $43 billion offer to buy it. This offer comes only days after becoming the largest stakeholder in the company with 9.2%.
Musk announced the potential deal in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, after turning down a potential board seat at the company. He shared the following statement explaining why he wants to buy 100% of the company:
I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.
However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.
As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced. My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.
Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.
Twitter will be reviewing the proposal and they say their response and decision would be in the best interests of “all Twitter stockholders.” It will be interesting to see what they do, but it’d be crazy if they didn’t take the deal. But, in the opinion of Vital Knowledge’s Adam Crisafulli, the $54.20 per share offer is “too low” for shareholders or the board to accept.
Musk’s biggest problem with Twitter is his perception of censorship by the platform and he wants to change that. As it says in his letter to Twitter’s board, he believes Twitter “will neither thrive nor serve [its free speech] societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”
I’m curious to see how this plays out. Personally, I’m not a fan of Twitter. From my own experience, I’ve found that it’s just a place filled with a lot of bullies and trolls. I’ve been attacked on Twitter numerous times and it really affected my depression and anxiety, so I stepped away and rarely use it for personal reasons. I only poke my head in every once in a while on my personal account to share things about movies and TV shows. I’m not sure if Musk could ever fix that aspect of it.
What do you all think about Musk looking to buy Twitter?