Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and the world’s wealthiest man, has now offered to buy Twitter Inc, about a month after becoming the biggest shareholder of the social media company and days after turning down a seat on the board.
“I made an offer,” Musk tweeted, along with an updated 13D document that he had filed on Thursday, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In the offer, Musk said he invested in the social networking site as he believes in its “potential to be the platform for free speech” around the globe. “I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” he added.
He further went on to say, “However, since making my investment, I now realise the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”
Nearly a month ago, on March 14, Musk obtained a 9.2% stake in the company, by purchasing approximately 73.5 million shares. The news came to light earlier this month through a regulatory filing. Following this, the share price of Twitter saw a rise of as much as 27% and Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal had announced that the billionaire was being appointed to the board of the company.
However, earlier this week, Agrawal revealed that Musk had decided to not join the board of the social networking company.
Musk has now offered to completely buy Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before the billionaire began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before his 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,” he wrote and noted that he would strive to “unlock” the company’s “extraordinary potential.”
Calling it a “non-threatening, good investment,” Musk further said, “If the deal doesn’t work, given that I don’t have confidence in management nor do I believe I can drive the necessary change in the public market, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.”
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Twitter also issued a press release to confirm the non-binding offer. “The Twitter Board of Directors will carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the company and all Twitter stockholders,” it said.
Later, on Thursday, Musk put up a poll on Twitter asking whether taking the company private at $54.20 “should be up to shareholders and not the board members.” With eight hours left on the poll, roughly 84% of the respondents have answered ‘yes’.
“Will endeavour to keep as many shareholders in privatised Twitter as allowed by law,” Musk further tweeted.