Elon Musk has offered to buy a 100% stake in Twitter to become the sole owner of the social media platform. The move came days after Musk picked up a 9.2% stake in Twitter. He is now the largest shareholder of the microblogging platform at over four times the stake than Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey (2.25 percent). The Twitter stock rallied and closed at USD 45.85 a share– a 12% spike– on Wednesday.
Later, the Tesla chief said he would join the Twitter board. “Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!” he tweeted on April 4. However, he reneged.
Musk asked his more than 81 million followers whether Twitter is “dying” and if its main office should be converted to a homeless shelter. He also created a poll asking if the letter “w” should be removed from Twitter, with the only options being “yes” and “of course”.
Now, Elon has offered to buy Twitter for USD 54.20 at a total value of USD43 billion.
According to Musk, the social media company needs to go private because it can “neither thrive nor serve” free speech in its current state. “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,” he wrote. “My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.”
