Tech giant Elon Musk on Thursday has offered to buy his favourite social media platform, Twitter, by offering a whopping $43 billion for the entire stake of the company. According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, the billionaire will shell $54.20 per share in cash, a 54 per cent premium over the January 28 closing price.
“…I am offering to buy 100 per cent of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54 per cent premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38 per cent premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced,” he said, adding, “My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.”
For the past several days, Musk has been making headlines following his investments in the Twitter space. On April 4, Elon Musk became the social media platform’s top shareholder, after the Tesla CEO took 9.2 per cent stake in the social media platform.
A day after that, Twitter Inc. said in a regulatory filing, that it entered into an agreement with Musk on Monday that will give the billionaire a seat on its Board, with the term expiring at its 2024 annual shareholders meeting. However, Musk, either alone or as a member of a group, won't be allowed to own more than 14.9 per cent of Twitter's outstanding stock for as long as he's a Board member and for 90 days after.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said in a tweet the company had been talking to Musk in recent weeks and “it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board.” “He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term,” Agarwal continued.
Responding to the tweet, Musk said, “Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!”
However, on Monday, Parag Agarwal wrote, “Elon has decided not to join our board. I sent a brief note to the company, sharing with you all here.”
Musk’s tweets ahead of the offer
After buying the highest shares of the social media platform, Musk caused a commotion when he tweeted asking followers, “Do you want an edit button?”. The edit button has been a longtime feature request from Twitter users.
Responding to the tweet, Twitter's CEO wrote, “The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.”
Following Musk’s “edit button” poll, over 4.4 million accounts voted, with 73.6 per cent asking for the addition. On April 6, Twitter announced that it had been working on an edit button “since last year.” Adding further, the social media platform wrote, “No, we didn’t get the idea from a poll,” the company’s tweet noted with a cheeky winking emoji.”
On Saturday, Musk tweeted, “Is Twitter dying?” citing the 10 most-followed Twitter users. “Most of these ‘top’ accounts tweet rarely and post very little content,” he wrote.
