Less than two weeks after announcing he had built up a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter (and more recently turning down an offer to join its board of directors), billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors Elon Musk has made a cash offer of $54.20 a share to purchase the popular social networking service, valuing the company at about $43 billion. “Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company,” Musk wrote in a letter to Twitter chairman Bret Taylor disclosed in an SEC filing. “My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder. Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.”

In explaining his desire for Twitter to be transformed as a private company, Musk wrote: “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy. However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form.”

“Musk first revealed a 9.2 percent stake in the social media giant earlier this month, in a move that sent shares closing up 27 percent,” reports CNBC. “The company also announced that Musk would join its board of directors, but he later reversed those plans.”

Musk is currently the world’s wealthiest individual and the top shareholder in Twitter. He “has been a vocal critic of Twitter in recent weeks, mostly over his belief that it falls short on free speech principles,” notes Yahoo News. The social platform has recently frustrated those “who’ve had their accounts suspended for violating its content standards on violence, hate or harmful misinformation. Musk also has a history of his own tweets causing legal problems.”

The billionaire recently drew media attention “when he shared his suggestions for changes to Twitter Blue, the company’s subscription service,” The Hill explains. “He also tweeted a poll asking his Twitter followers ‘Do you want an edit button?’ one day before the company announced that it was testing the feature.”

After Twitter chief exec Parag Agrawal announced that Musk had declined the board position, the Tesla CEO — who has 81 million Twitter followers — sent out numerous tweets suggesting significant changes to the company, including a move to end advertising and converting the San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter. Many of the tweets were subsequently deleted.

“Ultimately we believe this soap opera will end with Musk owning Twitter after this aggressive hostile takeover of the company,” said Daniel Ives, managing director and senior equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities. “It would be hard for any other bidders/consortium to emerge and the Twitter board will be forced likely to accept this bid and/or run an active process to sell Twitter.”

In a brief statement, Twitter confirmed Musk’s “unsolicited, non-binding” offer. “The Twitter board of directors will carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the company and all Twitter stockholders.”

Related:
Elon Musk Offers to Buy Twitter: Live Updates, The New York Times, 4/14/22
Elon Musk Accused of Market Manipulation Over Twitter Shares (Video), CBS News, 4/13/22
Elon Musk Is Sued by Shareholders Over Delay in Disclosing Twitter Stake, Reuters, 4/13/22
Twitter Is Stuck with Elon Musk. 3 Ways It Could Play Out, Barron’s, 4/12/22
Elon Musk Doesn’t Need a Board Seat to Change Twitter, CNN, 4/13/22