It’s official: Elon Musk buys Twitter.
the billionaire spacex and the CEO of Tesla will acquire the social media platform for $54.20 per share in a deal worth approximately $44 billion, Twitter representatives announced today (April 25).
“Freedom of expression is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital public square where vital issues for the future of humanity are debated.” Musk said in a statement..
“I also want Twitter to be better than ever by improving the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating spam bots, and authenticating all humans,” he added. “Twitter has tremendous potential and I look forward to working with the company and the user community to unlock it.”
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I hope even my worst critics stay on Twitter, because that’s what free speech means.April 25, 2022
Elon Musk is one of the most influential and popular users of Twitter, with more than 83 million followers. He frequently uses the site to give updates on his companies and projects, circulate memes and make jokes.
Some of his posts have gotten him into trouble. In 2018, for example, the The SEC sued Musk for fraud for a tweet in which he claimed he had raised funds to take Tesla, a public company, private at $420 a share. Both Musk and Tesla reportedly paid a $20 million fine to settle the dispute.
His takeover of Twitter has been brewing for weeks. On April 4, it was announced that Musk had purchased a 9.2% stake in the company, becoming its largest shareholder. Ten days later, Musk told us: via Twitterof course, that he had made an offer to buy allat $54.20 per share.
Twitter took some time to think about it. The company ultimately decided to accept the deal, which is expected to close this year.
“Twitter’s Board undertook a thoughtful and comprehensive process to evaluate Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and funding,” said Twitter Independent Board Chairman Bret Taylor. release. “The proposed transaction will generate a substantial cash premium and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter shareholders.”
Musk is by far the richest person in the world. According to Forbes, is currently worth nearly $267 billion. That’s about $100 billion more than the second name on the list, the founder of Amazon and Blue Origin. Jeff Bezos.
Mike Wall is the author of “EITHERout of there(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; Illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @migueldwall. Follow us on twitter @Spacepointcom or in Facebook.