If takeover should succeed
Musk wants to take Twitter private
04/14/2022, 11:45 p.m
On the one hand, Tesla boss Musk sees potential in the online service Twitter, on the other hand, in his view, the network restricts freedom of expression. He doesn’t yet know whether his plan to buy it will work out. In any case, Twitter would disappear from the market if it were taken over.
High-tech pioneer Elon Musk wants to completely take over the short message service Twitter after becoming a major shareholder. The founder of the electric car manufacturer Tesla and the richest person in the world wants to buy all remaining Twitter shares at a price of 54.20 dollars (49.69 euros) and then take the online platform from the stock exchange. Twitter is thus valued at around 43 billion dollars. Musk’s attempt at a hostile takeover of Twitter caused a tremendous stir.
However, the star entrepreneur admitted a few hours after announcing his plans for the Twitter acquisition that he was “not sure” if he would succeed. In the event that his offer fails, however, he has a “plan B,” said the 50-year-old multi-billionaire at the “Ted2022” conference in Vancouver, western Canada. He did not comment any further on this “Plan B”.
At the beginning of last week it became known that Musk had acquired around nine percent of Twitter shares, making it the largest shareholder in the online service. Shortly thereafter, Twitter announced that Musk would join the board of directors. The entrepreneur from South Africa then backed down.
“Twitter has extraordinary potential”
In a mandatory announcement to the US stock exchange on Wednesday, Musk wrote that he originally decided to join Twitter because he believed in the company’s potential to be “a platform for free speech around the world”. However, since becoming involved with Twitter, he has come to the conclusion that “the company in its current form is neither evolving nor doing justice to its role in society”.
“Twitter has exceptional potential,” Musk wrote. “I will release it.” The entrepreneur later added at the conference in Vancouver that his takeover plan for Twitter was not about “making money”.
Musk is offering Twitter shareholders $54.20 per share, a 54 percent premium over the closing price on Jan. 28, the day before he joined Twitter. “This offer is my best and final offer,” said Musk, who also founded space company SpaceX. If it is not accepted, he would have to “reconsider his position as a shareholder”.
Musk asked followers if Twitter is ‘dying’
Twitter said it would carefully review the unsolicited, non-binding offer. The board of directors will then decide how to proceed “in the best interest of the company and the shareholders”. Musk, himself an avid user of the online service with 81.6 million followers, has long been known as a critic of Twitter. According to Forbes magazine, the richest person in the world with assets currently totaling $267 billion has repeatedly accused the platform of restricting freedom of expression.
Most recently, Musk, who is known for provocations, caused a stir when he asked his followers if Twitter was “dying”. He pointed out that many celebrities with millions of followers, such as singer Justin Bieber, rarely speak on the platform.
After becoming a major shareholder, Musk also proposed changes. So he started a poll on his profile asking if Twitter users wanted a feature to correct a tweet after it was published. After a majority voted in favour, the company said it would test this feature – but emphasized that it had been working on such a possibility for a long time and that Musk did not come up with this idea.