Washington: Billionaire Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, just days after rejecting a seat on the social media companyโs board.
Muskโs offer price of $54.20 per share, which was disclosed in a regulatory filing on Thursday, represents a 38% premium to Twitterโs April 1 close, the last trading day before the Tesla CEOโs more than 9% stake in the company was made public.
Twitterโs shares jumped 12% in premarket trading.
โSince 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,โ Musk said in a letter to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor.
โMy offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder,โ Musk said.
Earlier this week, Musk said he had abandoned a plan to join Twitterโs board, just as his tenure was about to start. Taking the board seat would have prevented him from a possible takeover of the company.
The executive is one of Twitterโs most-watched firebrands, often tweeting out memes and taunts to @elonmuskโs more than 80 million followers. He has been outspoken about changes heโd like to consider imposing at the social media platform, and the company offered him a seat on the board following the announcement of his stake, which made him the largest individual shareholder.
In a letter to Twitterโs board, Musk said he believes Twitter โwill neither thrive nor serve [its free speech] societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private companyโ
The takeover is unlikely to be a drawn out process. โIf the deal doesnโt work, given that I donโt 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,โ said Musk.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.