Elon Musk Seals Deal to Buy Twitter for $44 Billion
WASHINGTON — After a weekend of intense negotiations, Elon Musk has clinched a deal to become the new owner of Twitter, after convincing the company’s board to accept his $44 billion takeover proposal.
Under the terms of the deal, Twitter stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of the company’s common stock that they own upon closing of the proposed transaction.
Upon completion of the transaction, expected sometime in 2022, Twitter will become a privately held company.
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in a statement outlining his vision for Twitter’s future.
“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential — I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it,” Musk added.
Bret Taylor, Twitter’s independent board chair, said later in the same statement that “The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing. The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.”
The deal came 10 days after Twitter board members announced a “poison pill” attempt to thwart Elon Musk’s attempt to buy the social media company. The board members adopted the defense through April 14, 2023, to give themselves time to vet the offer, according to a press release.
Musk began buying the company’s stock earlier this year before announcing over a 9% stake in the company on April 4 and stating he would take a seat on the board of directors. He later declined the seat
His bid to buy the company in a hostile takeover came days later.
“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,” Musk wrote.
He’s shared multiple ideas for how he would improve Twitter, including taking a less active role in moderating users over reports of hate speech and misinformation.
He vowed via tweet, “If our twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!”
Musk also said he wants to allow people to see into the algorithm that controls what tweets people see and in what order.
These negotiations come just days before Twitter is slated to announce its first-quarter earnings report Thursday.
Soon after Musk’s bid was made public he tweeted a poll asking users to choose “yes or no” to “Taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to shareholders, not the board.”
Madeline can be reached at [email protected]
