Elon Musk recently offered to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share, a total of $43.4 billion, claiming that the social media company needs to transform into a private company.
Musk wrote in a letter to Twitter's chairman, Bret Taylor (and in a filing with securities regulators), "I invested in Twitter because I think it has the potential to become a platform for free speech globally, and I believe that freedom of speech is a necessary social condition for the proper functioning of democratic institutions." ”
Here's Musk's letter to Twitter's Chairman of the Board, Bret Taylor, disclosed in a filing with the Securities Regulatory Authority:
I invested in Twitter because I think it has the potential to be a platform for free speech around the world, and I think freedom of speech is a necessary social condition for the proper functioning of democratic institutions.
However, since I invested in Twitter, I now realize that the company is neither going to flourish nor become this necessary social condition in its current form. Twitter needs to transform into a private company.
So I offered to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I started investing in Twitter and 38% more than the day before I publicly announced my investment. I gave the highest and final offer I could give; if that offer wasn't accepted, I needed to reconsider my position as a shareholder.
Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will tap into this potential.
Elon Musk
Twitter shares have fluctuated in recent weeks due to news from Musk, but are up 6 percent this year and 18.5 percent since the beginning of the month.