ELON Musk has launched a hostile takeover of Twitter.
The billionaire Tesla chief has moved to buy the social media giant for $43billion in cash, regulatory filings showed on Thursday.
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The mega-bid comes days after Elon Musk made the surprise purchase of a nine per cent stake in Twitter, which has 200million users.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced that the 50-year-old would join the board of directors, an offer that Musk later declined.
An updated filing on Thursday revealed that the world’s richest man is making his “best and final” offer to buy 100 per cent of Twitter.
He’s offering $54.20 per share in cash.
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Should Twitter accept the bid, Musk would “acquire all of the outstanding Common Stock.”
The proposal was delivered in a letter to Twitter chief exec Bret Taylor on April 13.
And in a sensational twist in the saga, Musk threatened to pull out as a shareholder if his offer is not accepted.
“I would need to reconsider my position,” said Musk if Twitter were to turn him down.
He added that the social media company he has often criticised needs to go private to see effective changes.
The Musk whirlwind kicked off in March when he slammed the social network for how it handles free speech on its platform.
Weeks later he took the internet by surprise, announcing he had taken a stake in the company worth $2.9billion.
The move made him Twitter’s largest shareholder.
After Musk complained in a tweet about the need for a much-desired edit button, Twitter bowed and revealed that one was coming.
He was set to join the firm’s board but earlier this week dramatically declined the offer.
Analysts said that the move signalled his intention to take over the company as a board seat would have limited his stake to just under 15 per cent.
“Since making my investment I now realise the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form,” Muk wrote in his letter.
“Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”
He added: “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 did not respond to a request for comment.
Musk has amassed over 80 million followers since joining the site in 2009, making him one of its most popular users.
He has used the platform to make several announcements, including teasing a go-private deal for Tesla that landed him in hot water with regulators.
Over the weekend, Musk sent out a flurry of tongue-in-cheek tweets about changes he planned to make to the platform.
They included turning Twitter’s HQ into a homeless shelter as “no one shows up anyway” and changing the company’s name to “Titter”.
He later deleted the posts.
Musk is already serving simultaneously as the CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX.
He also spearheads tunnel-digging firm The Boring Company and Neuralink, a project to implant computer chips into people’s brains.
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