Elon Musk wants to completely take over Twitter. The US billionaire has offered to buy out all of the company’s stock. According to a statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the Tesla and Space-X boss wants to pay USD 54.20 per share.
That is almost four US dollars more than the price to which the share price jumped after the offer became known. The Tesla course, on the other hand, slipped by more than two percentage points before the market. If the offer is not accepted, Musk said he would have to reconsider his position as the current largest shareholder.
Musk just became Twitter’s largest shareholder
Overall, Musk wants according to the notification So pay around 40 billion US dollars for Twitter, he has already spent more than 2 billion dollars for around 9 percent of the shares. This made him the largest shareholder a few weeks ago. Afterwards it looked for days as if Musk would switch to the board of directors and thus have a significant influence on the further development of the group.
But he has already distanced himself from that. US media had pointed out that the job would have come with a cap on the number of shares Musk could have acquired. He shouldn’t have bought more than 15 percent of Twitter. Musk told the SEC that if he actually takes over the company completely, he wants to take it off the stock exchange. This is the only way that freedom of expression can continue to prevail on the platform.
Musk wrote that when he started buying shares in Twitter, he did so because he believed the service could become “the platform for free speech for the world.” And freedom of expression is necessary for a functioning democracy. However, he no longer believes that Twitter can thrive and meet that need. That’s why he wants to buy the platform completely. The offered price per share is 54 percent above its value before he started investing and 38 percent above the value the day before his entry became known.
– The short message service Twitter is said to be worth around 36 billion US dollars. Tesla boss Musk is offering around $40 billion for a complete takeover of the service.
(Image: dpa, Silas Stein)
Repeated criticism of Twitter
With his words about free speech and Twitter, Musk seems to be referring to a controversy that has plagued the short message service for years. When it comes to the question of whether certain entries on Twitter are allowed to remain or are deleted, the company repeatedly attracts criticism. While some accuse the service of acting too laxly and also tolerating contributions that violate the terms of use, conservatives in the USA have criticized the service, especially since Donald Trump was kicked out. They accuse Twitter of restricting freedom of speech. The former US President even had his own alternative developed with Truth Social.
As head of the electric car company Tesla and the space company SpaceX, Elon Musk is currently the richest man in the world. According to Forbes, he currently has a fortune of 290 billion dollars (about 260 billion euros). He has been active on Twitter for years and, as one of the most well-known users, continues to offend. Over 80 million accounts follow him there. He had to reach a settlement with the SEC in 2018, and since then certain tweets about Tesla’s business have had to be checked in advance by the group’s lawyers. For weeks now, he has been engaging with Twitter itself on Twitter and has conducted several surveys about the service. He assured that the polls would have “important” consequences.
[Update: 14.04.2022, 13:35 Uhr] Added additional information on Musk’s net worth and Twitter’s value.
(mho)
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