$ 54.20 per share – or $ 43 billion in total: This is the amount Alon Musk is offering, in cash, for all of Twitter’s shares, in a takeover bid that if completed will transfer the social network to its full control as its sole owner. He made the announcement in a statement issued yesterday by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The move came days after Musk refused to take a seat on Twitter’s board, which he was entitled to because he bought 9.2 percent of the social network and became the company’s largest shareholder.
“I have invested in Twitter because I believe in its power to be a platform for freedom of expression around the world, and I believe that freedom of expression is a social order for a functioning democracy,” Musk wrote in a statement to the committee yesterday. “However, since my investment I have realized that Twitter will never prosper and will not serve the social order in its current form. Twitter must become a private company. That is why I propose to buy 100 percent of Twitter.”
In his notice to the committee he made it clear that this was the “best and last” offer, and that he would not exceed the price offered; However, he also threatened to reconsider his investment in the company if shareholders rejected it. “Twitter has tremendous potential. I’ll release it,” Musk stated.
81 million accounts follow Musk on Twitter. After announcing about two weeks ago that it had completed the purchase of 9.6 percent of Twitter shares, the value of the shares quickly jumped by 25 percent. Musk’s takeover bid is now 38 percent higher than the share price on April 1, a day before his investment in Twitter was first announced.
In recent days, Musk has tweeted several times on the net. Last Saturday, Twitter wrote “dead” and called for the removal of users like pop star Justin Bieber, who many follow but rarely tweet. “Most of these accounts bring up very little content,” he wrote, adding to his tweet a list of the ten accounts with the most followers. He himself is in eighth place.
In other tweets, Musk raised amused “polls” that asked whether to remove the letter w from Twitter’s name. He also wondered whether to turn the company’s headquarters in San Francisco into a homeless shelter, “because no one comes to work anyway.” He also suggested removing the ads on the network, its main source of income.
The tech entrepreneur uses Twitter frequently, and his tweets sometimes feature stirring and controversial statements about topics and personalities, or unusual claims in business matters.