bang on the internet. Electric car and space entrepreneur Elon Musk can now also include the short message service Twitter in his portfolio. After weeks of back and forth, both parties agreed on a takeover by Musk. According to a press release, the Tesla and SpaceX boss will pay $54.20 per share, or a total of $44 billion. The purchase price corresponds to a premium of 38 percent to the closing price of Twitter shares on April 1, 2022, the last day before it was announced that Musk had secured nine percent of Twitter shares.
Twitter: Board of Directors unanimously approves acquisition
As early as mid-April 2022, Musk had pushed ahead with his purchase project. The exit was initially open. Only on the night of April 25, 2022 did the deal start to move. The short message service is warming up to the takeover bid, it said. The Twitter Board of Directors has now unanimously approved the acquisition. Musk and Twitter still have a few hurdles to clear. It is pending shareholder approval, regulatory approval and “the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.” The deal should go through in 2022.
According to the press release, Musk has secured 25.5 billion US dollars (23.8 billion euros) in credits and loans, 21 billion US dollars (19.6 billion euros) controls the richest person in the world according to the Forbes list from his own fortune at. After the acquisition is complete, Twitter will go public.
Musk promises new features
“Freedom of expression is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital marketplace where important issues affecting the future of mankind are discussed,” Musk said in the press release. He also wants to make Twitter “better than ever”. This should succeed with the help of open source algorithms, the authentication of all people on Twitter and the fight against all spam bots. Musk also wants to launch new features. It was already known in advance that Twitter was working on an “edit” button.
In a tweet, Musk keeps his fingers crossed that the takeover will not culminate in a loss of users. “I hope even my worst critics stay on Twitter because that’s what free speech means,” the entrepreneur tweeted on the evening of April 25, 2022.
Twitter boss Parag Agrawal also commented on the takeover. “Twitter has a purpose and meaning that resonates around the world,” writes Agrawal. One is proud of the team and enthusiastic about the work, “which has never been as important as it is today.” It remains unclear whether Agrawal will keep his job under Musk. Agrawal had only taken over the management at the end of November 2021 from co-founder Jack Dorsey, who very suddenly turned his back on the company.