The CEO of Tesla and Starlink Tech believes that the microblogging website needs to be “transformed” and offered to purchase the social media platform for $43 billion.
In an interesting turn of events, Tesla’s CEO and Tech billionaire Elon Musk has filed an SEC filing stating that he wishes to purchase Twitter and wants to take it private for $43 billion in cash.
Musk wants to buy Twitter
According to the SEC filing, Musk proposed a deal stating that he would like to acquire the existing shares of Twitter at $54.20 per share, adding up the total amount to $43 billion. The respective deal represents a 38% premium over the closing price on April 1st, the last trading day when Musk disclosed details that he has become an official shareholder of the social media platform.
Musk further stated that the cash offer initiated by him is the “last and final offer,” and if it’s not accepted, he will have to reconsider his role as a shareholder in the firm.
Musk’s SEC filing underlines certain details including his intent, stating the reason that he wishes to take the company private is to make specific “changes in Twitter that need to be made”
Musk also wrote a letter to Twitter’s chairman Brett Taylor stressing the fact that Twitter needs to be transformed privately to help unlock its potential in the long run.
“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy. However, 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 into a private company.
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. My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.” The statement further adds.
While attending a TED conference in Vancouver Canada, Musk reiterated his stance commenting that if his offer to buy Twitter is successful, he would consider changing the platform’s policies concerning how it handles controversial issues and contents, combined with the ability to re-edit tweets.
“A top priority I would have is eliminating the spam and bot armies that are on Twitter…they make the product much worse.” Musk said to Ted Talk Curator Chris Anderson.
