Tesla CEO Elon Musk has offered to buy 100 percent of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash.
Musk stated in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday that Twitter has “ extraordinary potential” and he wants to unlock it.
Responding to the matter, Twitter said, “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”.
“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 as a private company,” Musk said in the SEC filings.
“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.
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 added.
Musk also stated in the regulatory filing that the company should be private to go through the changes that need to be made. “After the past several days of thinking this over, I have decided I want to acquire the company and take it private. I am going to send you an offer letter tonight, it will be public in the morning,” he added.
The report of Musk offering to buy Twitter comes a few days after he had turned down the offer of becoming a board member at Twitter.
CEO Parag Agrawal, who had welcomed Musk to the board last week, announced Musk’s decision not to take up the offer. Agrawal had stated that Musk would bring “significant improvements” to the company in the coming months.
Twitter’s CEO also called Musk a “passionate believer and intense critic of the service”, something that the company wanted for a long time. It came as a shocker when Musk refused to join the board five days after a much publicized welcome by Agrawal on Twitter.
The Twitter CEO did not reveal the exact cause behind Musk not joining the board but said that he would remain their biggest shareholder and the company would always be open to his input.