Elon Musk has made an offer to buy 100% of Twitter shares and take the company private.
In a letter to Bret Taylor, chairman of the board of Twitter, Musk offered to purchase the social media company at $54.20 per share in cash. The letter was delivered to Taylor on Wednesday and revealed by the Security and Exchange Committee on Thursday. Should his $41 billion cash offer be rejected, Musk said that he would “need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.”
“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,” Musk opens his letter to Taylor.
“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.”
“As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% 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.”
As of Thursday morning, Twitter was trading at $45.85 per share.
“Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it,” the Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s letter concludes.
Twitter confirmed the receipt of an unsolicited and nonbinding proposal from Musk to purchase all outstanding common stock of the company.
The Twitter board of directors said it will review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the company and shareholders.
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Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced on Sunday that Musk, 50, had decided not to join the board of directors of Twitter days after purchasing a 9.2% stake in the company, raising speculation that the business tycoon may be planning to purchase a larger share of Twitter.
On Tuesday, a lawsuit was filed against Musk by former Twitter shareholders who claim Musk waited too long to disclose his stake in the company, leading them to miss out on the run-up in its stock price.