Twitter disclosed the sale of the social network to billionaire Elon Musk on Monday (25), for around US$ 44 billion – or R$ 208 billion in direct conversion. The agreement was reached when the parties agreed on a price of $54.20 per share. The transaction is also unrelated to any other Musk assets. Twitter will become a private corporation once the deal is completed.
Twitter’s Board of Directors unanimously authorized the acquisition, which is anticipated to completion in 2022. It still has to be approved by the company’s shareholders and gain the appropriate regulatory clearances.
Musk acquired $25.5 billion in financing and additional $21 billion in equity for the acquisition.
Musk purchased around 9% of Twitter shares earlier this month for $2.89 billion. The action alarmed the company’s shareholders, who offered him a seat on the board of directors, only to be turned down by the CEO. Musk’s current offer to acquire 100 percent of the platform was his “best and last.”
Musk stated that the purchase of Twitter is connected to freedom of speech in an interview at a TED event on April 14. He also agreed that the social network’s algorithm should be open source, which would increase openness about how the site operates.
Emphasis on freedom of speech
According to the terms of the deal, Twitter’s present shareholders would receive $54.20 in cash for each share of common stock they own until the transaction is completed. Twitter’s independent chairman, Bret Taylor, said in a statement that “a meticulous and comprehensive process has been carried out to examine Elon’s proposal with a deliberate emphasis on value, clarity, and finance.”
Twitter has announced a button to modify postings; let’s see how it works.
Taylor also believes that selling the social network to the billionaire is “the greatest way for Twitter shareholders.” Musk tweeted this afternoon that he hopes even his harshest detractors would “remain on Twitter, since that’s what free expression is.”
Twitter’s current CEO, Parag Agrawal, who succeeded Jack Dorsey in November 2021, said that the social network “has a purpose and significance that affects the whole globe We are very proud of our colleagues and are motivated by the job that has never been more crucial.”
Musk’s purchase, he said in a memo, “supported the concept of freedom of speech.” “Freedom of speech is the backbone of a functional democracy, and Twitter is the [public] square of the digital city where crucial issues affecting humanity’s future are argued,” he stated.
Musk returned to speak about “unlocking the potential” of the social network and underlined actions that should be implemented, alluding to previous speech given by Musk himself:
Introduce new features
Making social network algorithms open source in order to “boost trust”
Take down spam bot chains;
All human users must be authenticated.
“Twitter has huge potential – I’m excited to help with the business and the community to realize it,” Musk added.