Yahoo Finance Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44 billion and flags big changes
Elon Musk will add Twitter owner to his impressive resume after the social media company accepted his US$44 billion offer.
"Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world,” Parag Agrawal, Twitter's CEO, said.
“Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.”
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Each Twitter stockholder will receive US$54.20 in cash for each share they own - this is around 38 per cent higher than Twitter’s closing price on April 1 - the day before Musk disclosed his 9 per cent stake in the company.
"The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon's proposal, with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing,” Bret Taylor, Twitter independent board chair, said.
“The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders."
How will Twitter change?
Besides going private - which just means Twitter will no longer be a publicly listed company in the United States - Musk has other changes he said he wants to make.
"I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans,” Musk said.
“Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it."
There have been mixed feelings about the takeover, with some users concerned the platform may become a cesspit for misinformation.
I hope you won't become a platform for spreading misinformation as that's not what free speech means.
— Adi Gaskell (@AdiGaskell) April 25, 2022
If you believe in free speech, you should oppose Elon Musk's attempt to buy Twitter. If he's successful, it would put extraordinary power into the hands of one man.
— Matthew Stadlen (@MatthewStadlen) April 25, 2022
There is nothing more important than freedom of speech, anyone who censors or restricts that is on the wrong side
— Dan Bilzerian (@DanBilzerian) April 25, 2022
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