Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for $43 billion, company to 'carefully review' hostile takeover bid

Twitter's board will evaluate an "unsolicited, non-binding" offer from Tesla chief Elon Musk to acquire the social media company, Twitter said Thursday.

"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," Twitter said as it confirmed it received Musk's bid valuing the company at $43.4 billion, AFP reported.

The Tesla CEO made the offer just days after Twitter announced that the billionaire would no longer be joining the social media company’s board of directors.

Earlier, Twitter Inc. said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that Musk, who currently owns slightly more than 9% of its stock and is the company's biggest shareholder, provided a letter to the company on Wednesday that contained a proposal to buy the remaining shares of Twitter that he doesn't already own. Musk offered $54.20 per share of Twitter's stock.

He called that price his best and final offer, although the billionaire provided no details on financing.

“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,” Musk says in the filing. “However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”

The buyout offer from Musk is just the latest development in his relationship with Twitter. The billionaire revealed in regulatory filings over recent weeks that he'd been buying shares in almost daily batches starting 31 January. Only Vanguard Group’s suite of mutual funds and ETFs controls more Twitter shares.

Musk declined to join Twitter board

Musk said last week that he informed Twitter he wouldn’t be joining its board of directors five days after he was invited. He didn’t explain why, but the decision coincided with a barrage of now-deleted tweets from Musk proposing major changes to the company, such as dropping ads — its chief source of revenue — and transforming its San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter. Musk left a few clues on Twitter about his thinking, such as by “liking” a tweet that summarized the events as Musk going from “largest shareholder for Free Speech” to being “told to play nice and not speak freely.”

After Musk announced his stake, Twitter quickly gave Musk a seat on its board on the condition that he not own more than 14.9% of the company’s outstanding stock, according to a filing. But Musk backed out of the deal.

Will Twitter accept the offer?

Wedbush analysts told AFP that the Twitter board would likely be forced to accept the bid or seek another buyer.

"It's get out the popcorn time as we expect many twists and turns in the weeks ahead as Twitter and Musk walk down this marriage path," the analysis said, with a host of questions likely to swirl around issues of financing, regulatory aspects and balancing Musk's time between his many companies.

Musk's plans for Twitter

Musk on Saturday tweeted asking whether the social media network was "dying" and to call out users such as singer Justin Bieber, who are highly followed but rarely post.

"Most of these 'top' accounts tweet rarely and post very little content," the Tesla boss wrote, captioning a list of the 10 profiles with the most followers -- which includes himself at number eight, with 81 million followers.

In other weekend tweets, Musk posted joke polls on whether to drop the "w" from Twitter's name and on converting its San Francisco headquarters to a homeless shelter "since no one shows up anyway."

He also suggested removing ads, Twitter's main source of revenue.

Musk’s 81 million Twitter followers make him one of the most popular figures on the platform, rivaling pop stars like Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga. But his prolific tweeting has sometimes gotten him into trouble with the SEC and others.

Musk and Tesla in 2018 agreed to pay $40 million in civil fines and for Musk to have his tweets approved by a corporate lawyer after he tweeted about having the money to take Tesla private at $420 per share. That didn’t happen but the tweet caused Tesla’s stock price to jump. Musk’s latest trouble with the SEC could be his delay in notifying regulators of his growing stake in Twitter.

Musk has described himself as a “free speech absolutist” and has said he doesn’t think Twitter is living up to free speech principles — an opinion shared by followers of Donald Trump and a number of other right-wing political figures who’ve had their accounts suspended for violating Twitter content rules.

Shares of Twitter jumped 11% before the market opened. The stock is still down from its 52-week high of about $73.

With inputs from agencies

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