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Elon Musk offers $43 billion to take Twitter private

The move comes days after Musk said he won't be joining the board of directors

Elon Musk wants to take Twitter private, and he’s willing to pay $43 billion to make it happen.

On Thursday, the billionaire filed official documents with the  U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He’s offering to pay $54.20 a share in cash, a deal he says shareholders will “love.”

Musk’s Twitter saga started earlier this month when a filing showed he purchased 9.2 percent of Twitter in March. He was set to join the social media giant’s board of directors before pulling out.

“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk says in the most recent filing.

In a message posted on the platform, Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal provided no specifics on why Musk pulled out but believed the decision was “for the best.”

Musk’s recent filing provides a little more detail for his thought process, doubting how the company currently runs.

“Since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”

This is Musk’s only offer, and he states he will not be “playing the back-and-forth game.” He will reconsider his position as a shareholder if the offer isn’t accepted.

Update 14/04/2022 3:25pm ET: Musk appeared at the TED 2022 conference in Vancouver soon after making the news public. He defended his bid, saying people should be able to speak freely.

“This is not a way to sort of make money. My strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important,” Musk said.

Image credit: Dan Taylor/Heisenberg Media 

Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission via Bloomberg

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