Elon Musk has made an offer to buy Twitter and take it private, saying he believes the company needs to be “transformed.”
The Associated Press reported that Musk owns roughly 73.5 million shares of Twitter, which are worth nearly $3 billion.
That’s about 9 percent of Twitter’s publicly held stock.
According to an SEC filing, Musk has offered to acquire all the shares in Twitter he does not own for $54.20 per share, valuing the company at $43.4 billion.
That represents a 38% premium over the closing price on April 1, the last trading day before Musk disclosed that he had become Twitter’s largest shareholder, and an 18% premium over its closing price on Wednesday.
Twitter issued a statement Thursday confirming that it had received the offer. The company said its board would 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.”
Here is what Musk wrote in a letter to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor, as disclosed in a new SEC filing.
“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.
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.
Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.”
On April 4th, after Musk’s shares of Twitter became public he tweeted, “Oh hi lol.”
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