Londres (CNN Business) — Elon Musk has made an offer to buy Twitter (TWTR).
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC, Musk offered to acquire all the shares of Twitter he does not own for $54.20 per share in cash, valuing the company at $43.4 billion.
That represents a 38% premium over the closing price on April 1, the last trading day before Musk revealed he had become Twitter’s largest shareholder.
Musk said the cash offer was his “best and last offer,” according to the SEC filing, adding that if it is not accepted, he will have to reconsider his position as a shareholder.
Tesla’s CEO sent an offer letter to the company on Wednesday night, according to the document.
“I invested in Twitter because I believe in its potential to be the platform for freedom of expression around the world, and I believe that freedom of expression is a social imperative for a functioning democracy,” he said in a letter posted on Twitter. “However, since making my investment, I now realize that the company will not prosper or meet this social imperative in its current form. Twitter must be transformed into a private company.”
The letter was addressed to Bret Taylor, Twitter’s chairman of the board, not the CEO. Parag Agrawal, who assumed that role last fall. He concludes: “Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.”
Twitter issued a statement Thursday confirming that it had received the offer. The company said its board would carefully review the proposal “to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the company and all of Twitter’s shareholders.”
Shares of Twitter soared as much as 13% in premarket trading for Thursday’s offer but soon pulled back to a gain of around 7%, suggesting investors were doubtful the offer would be accepted.
But it will be hard for Twitter to turn down Musk’s offer at the price he is offering, said Dan Ives, a technology analyst at Wedbush Securities.
“Musk is putting the Twitter board up once morest a wall,” Ives said. “The premium is at a level that it will be difficult for other offers to happen.”
