Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion on Monday, capping a saga that included hostile takeover threats before handing him personal control of one of the world’s most powerful social media platforms.
Former US President Donald Trump used Twitter as a platform before being banned, and Musk, a self-described “free-speech absolutist,” has said he wants to reform what he sees as the platform’s overzealous content moderation.
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where issues critical to humanity’s future are debated,” Musk said in a Twitter statement. “I also want to make Twitter better than ever before by improving the user experience.”
“I also want to make Twitter better than it has ever been by adding new features, opening up the algorithms to increase trust, defeating spam bots, and authenticating all humans.”
According to Twitter, the publicly-traded company will now become a private company owned by Musk, who negotiated a $54.20 per-share purchase price.
“Twitter serves a purpose and is relevant to the entire world. We are immensely proud of our teams and inspired by work that has never been more critical, “Parag Agrawal, the company’s CEO, said in a tweet.
Musk secured $46.5 billion in financing last week to complete the deal, and Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, predicted earlier in the day that the board would likely accept his offer because no other buyer could be found.
In an interview with CNBC, he said, “This put (their) back against the wall, and they had to come to the negotiation table.”
Around 1915 GMT, the Twitter stock was trading 5.9% higher on Wall Street.
