ELON Musk is buying Twitter for $44billion (£34.5bn), the business confirmed on Monday.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO will be paying $54.20 per share in cash to acquire the social media platform.
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“The purchase price represents a 38% premium to Twitter’s closing stock price on April 1, 2022, which was the last trading day before Mr. Musk disclosed his approximately 9% stake in Twitter,” the release detailed.
Following his huge purchase, Musk said: “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.
“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.”
Bret Taylor, Twitter’s Independent Board Chair, said, “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.”
Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO, added: “Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.”
Musk earlier tweeted: “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.”
Musk offered to buy Twitter for $43billion (£34billion) in cash.
The Tesla CEO previously described that amount as his “best and final offer.”
The deal may still come as a surprise to many as one of the ‘largest and long-term shareholders’ of Twitter initially wanted to reject the offer for being ‘too low’.
Many reports were weighing whether it was actually possible for Musk to move the funds across his portfolio to buy Twitter at $54.20 a share.
The price point is hardly arbitrary as Musk is an open fan of jokes relating to 420, a number long associated with pot smoking.
The New York Times reported that Musk reached an agreement with investment bankers at Morgan Stanley to loan him about $25billion to help finance the deal – the rest Musk would put up in cash.
Musk’s ownership could see changes to Twitter.
This could even include the return of former President Donald Trump.
He was notoriously banned from Twitter after the 2021 United States Capitol attack.
However, Musk has been very vocal about freedom and speech and being ‘anti-censorship’.
According to Reuters, many Republicans are pleased with the Twitter deal.
Trump has since launched his own social media platform called Truth Social so some reports suggest he won’t return to Twitter at all.
News of a deal has also sent Twitter stock rising by nearly six percent.
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