Twitter has reached a deal for billionaire Elon Musk to buy the social media platform in a $44bn (£34.6bn) deal.
The announcement followed what would have been lengthy discussions between Mr. Musk and Twitter’s board beginning on Sunday and continuing through Monday.
Mr Musk announced an offer to buy the social media platform on April 14 for $54.20 per share, or about $43 billion, saying he was not doing it to make money but to unleash the potential of Twitter.
The additional $1 billion price is believed to reflect the additional stock purchase revealed by Twitter.
The purchase price represents a 38% premium to Twitter’s closing price on April 1, which was the last trading day before Mr. Musk disclosed his 9% stake.
The deal means Twitter is now on the verge of going private, ending its stock market run that began in 2013.
Its shares, briefly suspended for the announcement, were up 6% on the news but traded at $51 per share – well below the offer price of $54.20 – perhaps indicating that some skepticism remained about the takeover.
The new talk was sparked by Tesla and SpaceX chief Mr Musk revealing he had secured funding for his bid, despite the company adopting a “poison pill” strategypushing shareholders to urge company management not to let a deal slip away.
Bret Taylor, Independent Chairman of Twitter’s Board of Directors, said of the numbers: “Twitter’s Board of Directors conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to evaluate Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on the value, certainty and funding.
“The proposed transaction will provide a substantial cash bonus, and we believe it is the best way forward for Twitter shareholders.”
Mr Musk added: “Free speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital public square where issues vital to the future of humanity are debated.
“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating spambots, and authenticating all humans.
“Twitter has enormous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the user community to unlock it.”
Mr Musk, who is a regular user of the platform, made the surprise offer buy twitter earlier this month.
It happened just a few days after he declined a seat on the social media company’s board of directors, which reportedly prevented him from taking over the company.
The billionaire who publishes memes, who is now the richest man in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, must now win a shareholder vote and then seek regulatory approval.
The statement said the deal is expected to close later this year.
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