Billionaire Elon Musk has a big offer for Twitter .
Musk proposed paying $54.20 for each share of the influential social media company, an offer …
Billionaire Elon Musk has a big offer for Twitter. Musk proposed paying $54.20 for each share of the influential social media company, an offer that values Twitter at $43 billion. The entrepreneur, who runs Tesla, SpaceX and other companies, already owns more than 9% of Twitter. „I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve [its] societal imperative in its current form,“ Musk wrote in a letter to Bret Taylor, chairman of Twitter’s board of directors. „Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.“ The offer, which Musk called his „best and final,“ underscores the roller-coaster relationship between the tech mogul and Twitter since he revealed his stake in early April. Musk is one of the social media company’s largest shareholders. He then turned down a seat on Twitter’s board of directors, fueling speculation that Musk would engage in a hostile takeover of the company. Here’s what you need to know about the ongoing saga between Twitter and Musk: Musk, who has 81 million followers on Twitter, is an avid user of the service but also one of its loudest critics. Musk tweeted a poll to his followers in March that asked whether users believed Twitter was protecting free speech. He said the poll results, in which roughly 70% of 2 million respondents answered „no,“ would be „very important.“ The First Amendment applies to the government censoring speech but not to companies such as Twitter, which have their own rules about what isn’t allowed on the site. „Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?“ he said in a follow-up tweet. In his letter to Taylor, Musk said he invested in Twitter because he believes „in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe.“ To accomplish his goal, Musk thinks the public company needs to go private. Twitter said in a press release it’s received the offer and the board will „carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the company and all Twitter stockholders.
