Twitter’s board of directors agreed Monday to accept a US$44 billion buyout offer made by billionaire Elon Musk. After the news broke, Musk, who made the surprise offer less than two weeks ago, said he is the right person to “unlock” the social networking company’s “extraordinary potential.”
In a meeting late Monday, Twitter’s board voted unanimously to accept Musk’s offer of US$26 billion in cash and stock for each share of Twitter stock, an offer worth about 10 percent more than Twitter’s closing price Friday.
Twitter shares rose nearly 10 percent on Monday before the close of trading on Wall Street after reports about the deal circulated. The stock fell 6 percent in after-hours trading following the announcement.
The firm initially rejected Musk’s offer, but will now ask its shareholders to vote in favor of approving the deal.
It also suggested a number of changes, from relaxing its content restrictions to eradicating fake accounts.
Elon Musk, the South African-born business magnate and investor, has bought Twitter.
“Free speech is the foundation for a democracy to function and Twitter is the digital public square where issues vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in the statement announcing the deal.
“I also want Twitter to be better than ever by improving the product with new features, making algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating spambots, and authenticating all humans,” he added.
“Twitter has enormous potential. I look forward to working with the company and the user community to unlock it.”
Speaking on his personal Twitter account Monday, Musk wrote “I hope even my worst critics stay on Twitter because that’s what free speech is all about.”
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Twitter shares rose nearly 6% following the announcement of the deal, hovering around US$51.84, just below the offer price; Dogecoin’s $DOGE price was also surging 20% because of this news.
