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Silicon Valley: It seems like Elon Musk is on a shopping spree with the billionaire setting his eyes on social media giants Twitter.
The Tesla CEO has offered to buy Twitter in exchange for $54.20 per share in cash.
Parag Agarwal, the chief executive of Twitter, has said that Elon Musk had recently decided against joining the company's board of directors. It is indeed a dramatic reversal and the uncertainty of the relationship between the social media platform and its largest stakeholder looms large, to say the least.
Musk, who is currently the world's richest man, will pay $54.20 per share in cash, representing a 54 percent premium over the January 28 closing price and a value of about $43 billion. The shares of the social media giants rose 18 percent.
Elon said in the filing that he invested in Twitter as he believed in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe. He is of the view that free speech is a societal imperative for a functional democracy.
However, he has called for the transformation of the company. It is because since making his investment, he has realized that the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form.
The offer was announced by Musk in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on April 14. The 50 year old billionaire, who also happens to control Tesla Inc., initially disclosed a share of about 9 percent on April 4.
Musk happens to be one of the most-watched firebrands of Twitter and he often tweets out memes and taunts to his followers, which stands at a staggering figure of 80 million.
It is worth noting that he has been quite vocal about the changes he would like to consider imposing at the company and has never shied away from expressing his mind.
He was offered a seat on the board by the company after the announcement of his stake and it made him the largest individual shareholder.
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