Getty Images | Jim Watson
Twitter’s board of directors has approved the sale of the company to Elon Musk for $44 billion, the company announced Monday.
“Freedom of speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are discussed,” Musk said in announcing the purchase. “I also want to make Twitter better than ever by improving the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeat the spam bots and authenticate all people. Twitter has huge potential – I’m looking forward to it to work with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”
The deal, pending shareholder approval and expected to close later this year, comes just 10 days after the Twitter board approved a poison pill to prevent a hostile takeover in response to Musk’s bid to sell the company. to buy. Board members began to take Musk’s offer more seriously after he drafted $46.5 billion in funding. The sale deal was announced hours after reports that a deal between Twitter and Musk was close.
The deal is “a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Elon Musk for $54.20 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion,” the announcement said. Twitter will become a publicly traded company upon completion of the transaction. Twitter’s share price rose 5.7 percent today.
Board cites “thought out and comprehensive process”
Twitter Board Chairman Bret Taylor said: “The Twitter board has conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to review Elon’s proposal with a conscious focus on value, security and financing. The proposed transaction will generate a substantial cash premium and we are believes this is the best path forward for Twitter’s shareholders.”
When the purchase is completed, Twitter shareholders will receive “$54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter common stock” they own, a 38 percent premium to Twitter’s closing price on April 1, 2022, the last trading day before Mr. Musk disclosed his approximately 9 percent stake in Twitter,” the announcement read.
The sale to Musk was unanimously approved by the Twitter board and is “expected to close in 2022, subject to Twitter shareholder approval, receipt of applicable regulatory approvals, and compliance with other customary closing conditions,” the announcement said. Musk previously secured $25.5 billion in debt and margin loans and pledged to provide $21 billion in equity.
Musk hopes his “worst critics will stay on Twitter”
“I hope even my worst critics stay on Twitter because that’s what free speech means,” Musk wrote in a… tweet monday† Musk, who has said that “Twitter should be turned into a private company” to protect free speech, last year asked a student for a Twitter account who follows the movements of his private jet.
Musk recently bought 9.2 percent of Twitter’s shares and agreed to join Twitter’s board. He then withdrew from the board seat agreement, which allegedly prohibited him from buying more than 14.9 percent of the company’s stock, and offered to buy Twitter instead.
Twitter executives initially appeared poised to fight Musk’s takeover bid, unanimously approving the poison pill that would make it difficult to buy more than 15 percent of the company’s stock in a “transaction not approved by the board of directors.” . Of course, the poison pill did not prevent the board from making a deal with Musk in direct negotiations.
