Musk offers more than $43B to buy Twitter
It’s a supercharged bid.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter for more than $43 billion.
Musk’s best and final offer was $54.20 per share, which was disclosed in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. It comes after the 50-year-old billionaire revealed he had purchased a 9.2% stake in the social media platform, making him the company’s largest shareholder.
“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,” Musk wrote in the filing, adding that he wants to “transform” the platform and take it private.
“However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form,” the eccentric billionaire, whose net worth is estimated at $260 billion, said in the filing. “Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.”
The SpaceX founder has been increasingly critical of Twitter in recent weeks, taking particular issue with what he feels is the company’s failure to live up to freedom-ofspeech principles.
And he’s not alone — Twitter has riled many, including supporters of former President Donald Trump and far-right figures, who have alleged that their accounts have been suspended on the grounds of violating its content standards regarding violence, hate or harmful misinformation.
Over the weekend, Musk fired off a series of tweets proposing major changes to the company, like dropping ads and transforming its headquarters into a homeless shelter. He also created a poll, asking his followers whether Twitter should drop the “w” from its name.
“Everyone who signs up for Twitter Blue (ie pays $3/month) should get an authentication checkmark,” Musk wrote. “And no ads. The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends on advertising money to survive.”
Those tweets have since been deleted. Shortly after Musk revealed his purchase of Twitter shares, the company offered him a seat on the board, which came with the condition that he would not own more than 14.9% of the company’s outstanding stock. He declined five days later.
Twitter confirmed it has received the offer and will decide whether it is in the best interests of its shareholders to accept or continue to operate as a publicly traded company. Musk noted in the filing that he would “need to reconsider my position as shareholder” if the company does not accept.
As is common with takeover attempts, Musk’s offer came in well above Twitter’s share price on Thursday morning. Twitter closed at $45.86 per share on Wednesday, but immediately jumped to $48.36 per share after Musk tweeted about his offer.
However, the stock price fell throughout Thursday and closed at $45.08 per share, down 1.68% on the day, well below the Tesla titan’s tender.
Musk tweeted early Thursday afternoon that he would “endeavor to keep as many shareholders in privatized Twitter as allowed by law.” Federal regulations allow private companies to have up to 500 shareholders.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is unlikely to try to block Musk’s bid, said Chester Spatt, a former SEC chief economist.
“This is going to play out reasonably quickly,” he said.
When Musk first started snapping up Twitter shares in late January, the stock was trading between $36 and $37 per share. After his ownership stake was revealed April 4, the share price skyrocketed over $50 as some of Musk’s many minions jumped on board.
A jilted Twitter investor who sold some Twitter shares prior to Musk’s disclosure sued the billionaire in Manhattan Federal Court, claiming that Musk was required by law to reveal his stake in Twitter by March 24, 11 days before he actually did so.