Elon Musk Officially Buys Twitter for $44 Billion

After a rapid series of negotiations, the board was forced to accept Elon Musk‘s $44 billion takeover offer, making him the new owner of Twitter.

Under the terms of the agreement, stockholders of Twitter will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of common stock they own at the close of the proposed transaction. The purchase price is a 38 percent premium over Twitter‘s closing stock price on April 1, 2022, when Musk, who is also Tesla and SpaceX CEO, revealed his roughly 9% stake in Twitter.

Twitter will then become a privately owned company after the transaction is completed.

Elon Musk announced the acquisition of Twitter in a statement: “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”

I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022

Musk continued, “I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential — I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”

Bret Taylor, Twitter’s independent board chair, said, “The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing. The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.”

On April 14, Musk — the world’s richest person — announced his intention to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share and then last week said he had secured $46.5 billion in financing for a bid. Twitter had put in place a “poison pill” strategy to defend against an attempted takeover. Musk previously stated that he owned 9.2%, making him the largest stakeholder.

The acquisition, which Twitter declared has been unanimously approved by its board of directors, is anticipated to be completed sometime in 2022, subject to stockholder approval, as well as regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Twitter still plans to disclose Q1 2022 financial results before the market opens on Thursday (April 28). However, “in light of the impending transaction announced today, Twitter will not hold a corresponding conference call.”

What are your thoughts on Elon Musk and Twitter? What do you think Twitter will look like now under Musk’s control?