Twitter has accepted Elon Musk’s offer to purchase the company for roughly $44 billion. The social media platform disclosed in a press release today that Musk purchased the company at $54.20 a share, the same price named in his initial offer on April 14, 2022.
Bret Taylor, Twitter’s Independent Board Chair, said in the press release that the board had “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,” Taylor added.
When Musk, the world’s richest man with a net worth of $219 billion, made his initial offer, Twitter’s board created a poison pill, a defense tactic used by a target company to prevent or discourage a potential hostile takeover, hinting that it would reject Musk’s offer. News of today’s acceptance shows that the board has changed its stance.
On April 21, Musk shared with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that he planned to finance the purchase by securing $25.5 billion of debt and about $21 billion equity commitment.
“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,” Musk said in the statement announcing the acquisition.
He also hinted at upcoming changes he might implement at the company, adding that he wants to “make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spambots, and authenticating all humans.”
It’s unclear what impact Musk will ultimately have on Twitter, where he’ll start making his proposed changes, or when. He’s recently taken to using the platform to poll users about the creation of an edit button, for example, which Twitter had already been developing at the time. In the initial SEC filing, Musk expressed his plan to take the company private. He also shared during a recent TED interview that he wants to make the Twitter algorithm open-sourced, allowing people around the world to make suggestions and notice changes made to tweets.
Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO, appeared to support the move, saying in the press release that “Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.”
Reacting to the news, Twitter users didn’t hesitate to jump on the platform to share their predictions, concerns, and of course, hot takes on the matter.
