Tesla CEO Elon Musk acquires Twitter for $44bn

Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk will acquire social media platform Twitter.

Twitter announced on Monday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Elon Musk in a transaction valued at approximately $44bn.

Twitter will become a privately held company, upon completion of the transaction.

The Twitter Board has reached an agreement with @ElonMusk https://t.co/CCZ6IV6Q7P

— Bret Taylor (@btaylor) April 25, 2022

According to the agreement, Twitter stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of common stock owned upon closing of the proposed transaction. The purchase price represents a 38 per cent premium to Twitter’s closing stock price on April 1, 2022, which was the last trading day before the Tesla chief disclosed his approximately 9 per cent stake in the company.

Bret Taylor, Twitter’s chairman said, “The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing. The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.”

Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important. https://t.co/5iNTtJoEHf

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 25, 2022

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” said Elon Musk.

“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”

I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022

The transaction, unanimously approved by the Twitter’s board is expected to close in 2022, subject to the approval of the company’s stockholders, the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, a statement said.

Elon Musk has secured $25.5bn of fully committed debt and margin loan financing and is providing an approximately $21bn equity commitment. There are no financing conditions to the closing of the transaction, the statement added.

Tesla chief had offered to acquire a 100 per cent stake of the platform earlier this month.

Read: Elon Musk offers to buy 100% of Twitter

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