Twitter Inc. said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that Musk, the company’s largest shareholder at the time, had offered to buy the remaining shares of Twitter, which it no longer holds at $ 54.20 a share, an offer worth more than $ 43 billion. Musk described the award as his best and last bid, although he did not provide details on funding. The offer is non-binding and is subject to financing and other conditions. “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for freedom of speech around the world, and I believe that freedom of speech is a social imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk said in the statement. “However, since I made my investment, I now realize that the company will neither thrive nor serve this social imperative in its current form. Twitter must be transformed into a private company.” Twitter said it had received Musk’s offer and would decide whether it was in the shareholders’ interest to accept or continue to operate as a listed company. Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said in a customer note that he believes “this soap opera will end with Musk owning Twitter following this aggressive hostile takeover of the company.” He believes it would be difficult for any other bidder or consortium to show up, and said Twitter’s board would likely be forced to accept Musk’s offer or start a process to sell the company. Musk has revealed in regulatory deposits in recent weeks that he has been buying shares in near-daily lots since Jan. 31, ending with a share of about 9%. Only the Vanguard Group’s mutual fund and ETF suite controls more Twitter shares. CLOCKS Musk’s Twitter account raises questions about his plans:
Elon Musk becomes Twitter’s largest shareholder, sparking questions about motivation
In an unexpected move, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter – becoming the largest shareholder in the social networking company. Musk has not publicly revealed the motives, but some experts say they are worried he could use his share to change the tone of Twitter. 2:02
The billionaire has been heavily criticized on Twitter in recent weeks, mainly because of his belief that he lags behind the principles of freedom of speech. The social media platform has angered fans of Donald Trump and other far-right politicians who have suspended their accounts for violating its content standards on violence, hatred or harmful misinformation. Musk also has a history of his own tweets causing legal trouble.
After Musk announced his stake, Twitter quickly offered him a seat on his board, provided he owns no more than 14.9 percent of the company, according to a statement. But he said five days later that he had refused.
He did not explain why, but the decision coincided with a barrage of deleted tweets by Musk proposing major changes to the company, such as the removal of ads – its main source of revenue – and the conversion of its San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter. Musk left some hints on Twitter about his thinking, such as saying “I like it” in a tweet summarizing the events as Musk changed from “the largest shareholder for Free Speech” to “he was told to play well and not speak freely”.
Huge monitoring
Musk’s 81 million followers on Twitter make him one of the most popular figures on the platform, competing with pop stars such as Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga. But his rich tweet has sometimes gotten him in trouble with the SEC and others. Musk and Tesla agreed in 2018 to pay $ 40 million in civil fines and Musk to have his tweets approved by a corporate lawyer, after he wrote on Twitter that he had the money to privatize Tesla at $ 420 per share. That did not happen, but the tweet caused a jump in Tesla’s share price. Musk’s latest problem with the SEC could be his delay in informing regulators of his growing stake in Twitter. Musk has described himself as a “liberal of free speech” and said he did not believe Twitter adhered to the principles of free speech – a view shared by Donald Trump supporters and a number of other right-wing political figures who had the accounts. have been suspended for violating Twitter content rules. Shares of Twitter jumped 11 percent before the market opened. The stock is still falling from its 52-week high of about $ 73. Shares of Tesla, the maker of electric vehicles led by Musk, fell about 0.9%.
