The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has made an offer to buy the entire Twitter corporation and remove it from public trading. His “best and final” offer of $54.20 per share values the firm at $41 billion.
In the latest SEC filing, Musk said:
“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.”
This decision comes in the wake of Musk purchasing 9.2% of the social media platform, making him the largest individual shareholder. He was swiftly offered a place on the board of directors, which he eventually refused, possibly due to imposed limits on stock ownership that came with the seat.
The offer of $54.20 per share is more than 50% higher than the trading price in January of this year and would be a significant fiscal win for shareholders.
Musk concluded, “If the deal doesn’t work, given that I don’t 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.”
