Elon Musk Twitter - latest: Twitter boss says company still evaluating Tesla chief’s $43bn bid for platform
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Your support makes all the difference.Elon Musk has made a shock offer to buy the entirety of Twitter.
The billionaire said that he did not have confidence in the company’s management and that it needed to undergo changes that could not happen without it being purchased.
He offered over $40 billion for the company, and said that he might sell his existing shareholding if the offer is not accepted.
Mr Musk announced recently that he had bought just under 10 per cent of the company, making him its biggest shareholders. He was offered and initially accepted a seat on its board – before announcing that he would not join after all, prompting speculation over his plans.
Now he has said that he wants to buy the company to protect “free speech” and unlock what he said is the “extraordinary potential” of the social network.
Musk hides 4.20 in his offer?
Elon Musk, who once smoked live on Joe Rogan’s podcast, likes the number 420. It has come up before, like when he suggested he would take Tesla private at $420 per share (and which the SEC had to officially rule was a weed reference).
Did he hide it in there this time, as technology journalist Kara Swisher has suggested in a tweet? The offer is for $54.20 per share...
Twitter confirms it has received offer
In a brief release, Twitter has confirmed it has received Mr Musk’s offer and that it will be reviewing it. It did not give a deadline or any indication of what it might do.
“Twitter, Inc today confirmed it has received an unsolicited, non-binding proposal from Elon Musk to acquire all of the Company’s outstanding common stock for $54.20 per share in cash,” it reads.
“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.”
(That’s the full thing.)
Twitter boss had warned there would be ‘distractions'
When Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief executive, announced that Elon Musk wouldn’t actually be taking his seat on the company’s board, he did appear to warn about things like this happening.
“There will be distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged,” he concluded. “Let’s tune out the noise, and stay focused on the work and what we’re building.”
Had Mr Musk suggested something like this was coming? Or was it just a well-informed guess? You can read the whole letter to Twitter staff here:
Elon Musk yet to post about offer
The usually very active Twitter account of Elon Musk is yet to post anything about the offer. In fact, he hasn’t posted anything himself for four days, since he replied to Jeff Bezos’s tweet about Mr Musk’s idea for turning the Twitter headquarters into housing for homeless people:
He did more recently retweet a post from SpaceX about the successful launch of the Axiom-1 mission:
But he has yet to say anything about the offer. Mr Musk does appear to have been unusually coy since his conversations with Twitter began, even deleting some of his more controversial posts and liking a tweet that suggested he had been asked to shut up.
... and releases script of discussions with Twitter leadership
Here’s the warning that Twitter leadership were given about the potential offer, seemingly last night.
Hello and welcome...
... to our live coverage of Elon Musk’s offer to buy Twitter.
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