Elon Musk offers to acquire Twitter for $42 billion

• Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter for $42 billion.
• The Tesla cofounder already owns 9.2% shares in the company.
• Musk had earlier declined the appointment to Twitter’s board of directors

Elon Musk has offered to acquire social media giant Twitter for around $42 billion, days after acquiring 9.2% stake in the company and rejecting the offer to join the board of directors.

Musk, the world’s richest man has offered a price of $54.20 per share. This represents a 38% premium to Twitter’s closing price of $39.31 on April 1, which was the last trading day before Musk announced his investment in the company.

The new offer of $42 billion was revealed in a regulatory filing by Musk to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Musk has been running polls of late about Twitter, on Twitter, asking his followers to give their opinions about matters like freedom of speech on the platform, as well as the highly-requested edit button.

“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,” Musk said in a letter to Bret Taylor, Twitter chairman.

In the letter, Musk also added that the offer of $54.20 per share is his best and final offer.

“My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder,” Musk added.

In a message to Taylor, Musk added that he is not interested in playing the back-and-forth game and he has offered a high price, claiming “your shareholders will love it.”

It remains to be seen how Twitter responds to Musk’s offer.

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