Elon Musk offers to buy rest of Twitter for $43 billion

Elon Musk has made an offer to buy Twitter for $43 billion, saying the company has extraordinary potential and he is the one who will unlock it, calling the bid his ” best and final offer”.

He said he would pay $54.20 per share in cash, representing a 54% premium over the day before he began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before his investment was publicly announced. Elon Musk announced the offer in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday after turning down a potential board membership at the social media company.

“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,” Elon Musk said. “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.”

I made an offer https://t.co/VvreuPMeLu

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2022

“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.,” said Mr. Musk, who acquired a 9% stake in Twitter, making him the company’s largest shareholder. 

“I am not playing the back-and-forth game,” he said. “I have moved straight to the end.”

Twitter said its board of directors would carefully review the proposal and that any response would be in the best interest of “all Twitter stockholders.”