Elon Musk’s $44 billion cash proposal to take over Twitter Inc. was approved on Monday, giving the world’s richest man control over the social-media network where he is also one of its most popular users. As part of the arrangement, Musk plans to take Twitter private.
Tesla’s CEO promised additional features and reaffirmed his call for Twitter’s content moderation policy to be loosened. Free speech, according to Musk, is the backbone of a functional democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where important issues affecting humanity’s future are argued.
If approved, the acquisition would be one of the largest in tech history, with worldwide ramifications for years to come, including the potential to shape how billions of people use social media.
Elon Musk took a bite out of Twitter in early April, leaving with 9.2% of the firm and plans to exert control over it through the board of directors. Musk, however, declined a position on Twitter’s board of directors, which would have limited the number of shares he could buy. On April 14, he made an unsolicited bid for the firm. The billionaire has stated that he is willing to pay $54.20 per share for the entire firm, totaling an all-cash deal of$43.4 billion for the social network.
At first, the Twitter board of directors had shown its objection to Musk by instituting a so-called poison pill defense against any unwelcome takeover attempt. However, it appears they have changed their minds when Tesla CEO Elon Musk disclosed financial information for his offer.
According to competition experts, US antitrust law is unlikely to pose an issue for Musk, who is also the CEO of SpaceX and controls the Boring Company, but whose businesses do not compete with Twitter in any markets.
