The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has launched a bold takeover attempt at Twitter (US:TWTR). The Tesla (US:TSLA) chief executive offered to buy all of Twitter’s shares for $54.20, a 38 per cent premium over the share price on April 1, in a single final offer.
In a bizarre SEC filing, Musk said after “several days of thinking this over” he had made up his mind to acquire Twitter and take it private. “It’s a high price and your shareholders will love it,” said Musk. “My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.”
In a statement, Twitter said its board would "carefully review the proposal".
This is the latest in a strange saga between the tech titan and Twitter. Last week, it was revealed that Musk had bought a 9.2 per cent stake in the company, but he then confused everyone by refusing to take up his board seat.
The Twitter takeover would supposedly allow Musk to make the “changes that need to be made”, but what he is actually cooking up is anyone’s guess. The electric car entrepreneur has regularly complained that Twitter is undermining his free speech by removing accounts, and has made suggestions that the social media company bans advertising and allows payments using cryptocurrency dogecoin.
Twitter shares rose by another 3 per cent on the news after a 11 per cent pre-market open rise, adding to its 39 per cent gains in the last month.
The social media company's chief executive Parag Agrawal foreshadowed this takeover effort earlier in the week in a statement published after Musk turned down a board seat and a limit on his holding. "There will be distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged," he said.
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