It’s Official: Musk To Buy Twitter for $44 Billion

The world’s highest-profile CEO struck a deal to buy one of the world’s highest-profile social media platforms today, as Twitter announced it would accept Tesla founder Elon Musk’s bid to take over the company.

In a press release, Twitter’s board announced that it had accepted Musk’s offer of $54.20 a share, all-cash offer for the company, which values the transaction at $44 billion and a 38% premium for the company’s share price on April 1, when Musk first disclosed he had taken a 9% stake in the company.

Musk had said — and the company confirmed in its release — that he would take Twitter private following the completion of the transaction, which they expected would close in 2022, pending shareholder and regulatory approval.

“The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing,” Bret Taylor, Twitter’s Independent Board Chair, said. “The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.”

They said Musk had secured $25.5 in financing, and about $21 billion in an equity commitment against his holdings in Tesla, which he founded.

“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,” said Musk. “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 spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”