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American billionaire Elon Musk reached an agreement on Monday, April 25, to buy Twitter for 44 billion dollars. ” Freedom of expression is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital public square where issues vital to the future of humanity are debated. “, he said in a statement.
It went very quickly. The man of the successes of Paypal, Tesla and SpaceX has won his bet: the social network Twitter now belongs to him.
The information was already almost official since a tweet from Elon Musk, which fell at the end of the day on Monday. ” I hope even my worst critics stay on Twitter, because that’s what free speech means. “, had written the one who is followed, on this network, by more than 84 million other accounts, to date.
I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
The talks, which seemed uncertain last week, accelerated over the weekend after Mr Musk courted the company’s shareholders, presenting them with the financial details of his offer. Twitter then began negotiating with the billionaire to buy the company at the proposed price of $54.20 per share.
The listing of the action Twitter, a company introduced on the stock exchange in 2013, was suspended on Monday on Wall Street. Several media had reported, from the start of the day, that the announcement of an agreement between Elon Musk and the board of directors on a takeover of the platform was imminent, which also boosted the action of the social network. .
►Read again: Musk is “not sure” of being able to buy Twitter but has a plan B
Elon Musk had proposed in mid-April to take over the entire group and withdraw the platform from the New York Stock Exchange. He also indicated last week that he had secure 46.5 billion dollars to carry out this acquisition thanks to two bank loans from Morgan Stanley, as well as his personal fortune.
Born in South Africa, naturalized Canadian then American, Elon Musk would be the richest man in the world. Forbes estimated his fortune at $269 billion. He already held, since the beginning of April alone, more than 9% of the ordinary shares of the social network, which made him the main shareholder. After entering the capital, he was invited to join the board of directors, but he declined before unfolding his strategy.
►Read again: Elon Musk joins Twitter’s board of directors
He promises to transform the social network to make it ” the platform for freedom of expression around the world », seeing it as a question of « civilisation “. Some observers believe that Mr. Musk could in particular reauthorize deleted accounts, like that of Donald Trump and some of his supporters.
One of the other axes on which the boss of Tesla could bet would be to make Twitter more profitable and to increase the growth of its number of users. He has already suggested several developments, for example the addition of a ” modifier ”, to correct a tweet after publication, and changes in the paid formula.
But if he is now the only master on board and can do what he wants with this network, which he considers to be a global Agora, the billionaire affirms that he is not there to make money, like reminds our correspondent in Washington, Guillaume Naudin. He wants, he explains, to unleash the potential of the business where those responsible for politics, economics and culture communicate directly with their subscribers.
This apostle of libertarianism, that is to say regulations reduced to their bare minimum, and if possible non-existent, has never hidden the fact that he considers the moderation efforts of the network as harmful to freedom of expression. This is why he has been very critical of permanent bans like the one that has hit the former US president since the attack on Capitol Hill on January 6 last year.
Donald Trump, who had partly built his strategy of conquest of power in 2016 by the strength of this social network, therefore sees the acquisition of Twitter in a good light. But he says he prefers to devote himself to his own social network, Truth social, which is struggling to take off.
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