The South African billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, made this Thursday a multimillion-dollar offer of $43 billion (regarding 40,000 million euros) to buy Twitter, and threatened to sell all its shares if the offer is not accepted.
In a notice sent to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Musk – considered the richest man in the world according to Forbes – offered $54.20 per share in cash.
This figure represents a 54% premium over the closing price on January 28, the day before the billionaire began investing in Twitter.
Likewise, it supposes a premium of 38% with respect to the price of the shares one day before its investment in the social network was publicly announced.
In a letter sent to the board of directors of the San Francisco company (California, USA), the billionaire, known for his eccentricities, assured that this is his “last” and “best” offer and that if the board does not accept it he will reconsider his equity position in the company.
Currently, the CEO of Tesla owns regarding 9% of total Twitter shareswhich makes it the largest shareholder of the social network.
Elon Musk has been very critical of the social network for months and has questioned whether its rules adhered “rigorously” to the principle of freedom of expression.
His criticism has sparked many misgivings, including among Twitter employees themselves, concerned that the tycoon might wield excessive power in the company to change its ethical posting standards, including banning former US President Donald Trump. Trump, considering that his messages instigated the assault on the Capitol in January 2021.
In his letter this Thursday, Musk assures that Twitter needs to transform in a “private” company -not listed on the stock exchange- since, in his opinion, it can “neither prosper nor serve” freedom of expression in its current state.
The also founder of the aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, says believe in the company’s potential to be the platform for freedom of expression around the world. “I believe that freedom of expression is a social imperative for the functioning of democracy,” she concludes.
In the middle of the trading session this Thursday, Twitter shares on Wall Street appreciated 1.35% following the announcement was made, to $46.48 per share.
For its part, in a brief statement, Twitter confirmed having received the proposal from Musk, and indicated that will review it to determine what course to follow that best benefits the company and the shareholders as a whole.
The offer comes following days full of headlines on Musk and Twitter, in which there has been much confusion regarding the role that the CEO of Tesla was going to play in the company.
The latest of those news came on Sunday, when it was revealed that Musk had finally would not be part of the board of directors of Twitter, following the previous week the opposite had been announced.
The CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal, who had announced on April 5 that Musk would join the board, was in charge of informing that this would no longer be the case in a tweet published on Sunday night.
“(Musk’s) appointment to the board of directors was officially going to be effective on April 9, but Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board,” Agrawal wrote on social media.
Less than a week earlier, Agrawal had shown himself, also in a tweet, “excited” to announce that Musk would join the Twitter Board of Directors and had anticipated that he would bring “great value” to the company.
On April 4, when Musk’s acquisition of 9.2% of the technology platform was revealed, the firm’s shares soared, closing 27.12% above their value the previous day.
