Last week, Tech mogul Elon Musk announced his bid to buy Twitter and take it off the stock market. A claim that was taken not very politely by Twitter’s board, but now, just after days of consideration, it officially announced that it is accepting Musk’s bid.
According to the company’s press release, Twitter has now “entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Elon Musk.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Musk will buy Twitter’s shares at $54.20 each, valuing the total transaction at approximately $44 billion. Upon completion, which by the way could take months due to regulatory scrutiny, Twitter will become a privately held company.
The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing. The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders,” said Bret Taylor, Twitter’s Independent Board Chair.
“Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important,” said Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO.
Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. 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 spambots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it,” said Elon.
Now that this is happening, mixed reactions are arising about him being the owner and how he will impact the platform that has over 200 million daily users.
He did, however, have plans to introduce some new features including opening Twitter’s algorithm, adding an edit button, eliminating spam bots, and verifying more people.
Alfred Gitonga is a passionate tech news writer with a deep interest in smartphones and related technologies. He is a staff writer at Mobitrends.co.ke.
