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Elon Musk Buys Twitter

Twitter has accepted an offer by Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, to purchase the company for approximately $44 billion, it was announced on Monday. Musk vows to uphold free speech on the platform.

Elon Musk buys Twitter, promises to uphold free speech

It’s official, Elon Musk is buying Twitter and plans to take the company private, with the social media platform’s board unanimously agreeing to accept a price of $44 billion, the company announced on Monday, April 25, NBC reported.

After the deal was struck, Musk immediately posted the news on Twitter and made a vow to uphold free speech.

“Yesss!!!” Musk wrote, embedding a graphic with text in the post conveying his immediate plans for the social media platform.

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” said Mr. Musk. “I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spambots, and authenticating all humans.”

“Twitter has tremendous potential,” musk continued. “I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”

Twitter locks down source code after takeover

After Twitter’s Board of Directors accepted Elon Musk’s offer to purchase the social media platform, the company locked down its source code, unnamed “people familiar with the matter” told Bloomberg. The unusual mood was undertaken to make it harder for employees – disgruntled or otherwise – to make changes. Any changes to Twitter’s code will require approval from a vice president, according to the report.

In the days leading up to the purchase, it was widely reported that many Twitter employees were unhappy with the idea of Musk taking over the company.

How Musk fought off “poison pill” attempt to block his purchase

In a takeover move that began on April 4 when Elon Musk announced he had purchased 9.2 percent of Twitter for a reported $2.9 billion, the world’s richest man has gone from the social media platform’s largest shareholder to its new owner.

On April 5, with his newly purchased shares, Elon Musk announced he would be joining Twitter’s Board of Directors. But after some reflection, and realizing being on the board would limit ownership to 14.9 percent, Musk then announced “an offer” to purchase the company at $54.20 per share, which represented a 54 percent premium over the closing price of the Common Stock on January 28, 2022.”

At first, Twitter’s board opposed Musk’s offer and adopted a “poison pill” strategy that would dilute shares of the company and thereby cap what percentage he could purchase.

On April 21, musk announced he had acquired $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter, and was exploring a tender offer, meaning, a bid to purchase some or all of a shareholders’ stock in a corporation. According to an SEC filing the same day, Musk said he had received commitments for $46.5 billion to help finance a potential deal for Twitter, CNBC reported. In the filing, Musk stated he had secured $25.5 billion in debt financing through Morgan Stanley Senior funding and said he had committed about $21 billion in equity financing. Other participants in the financing included Bank of America, Barclays, MUFG, Societe Generale, Mizuho Bank, and BNP Paribas, according to the filing.

With the financing in place, Twitter’s board decided to take “a fresh look” and reconsider the offer, hearing that Musk was “more likely than before to seek to negotiate,” multiple sources told the Wall Street Journal.

On Monday, April 25, Twitter and Musk reached a deal, with the company’s board unanimously accepting a price of $44 billion for the social media platform.

“The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing,” said Twitter board chair Bret Taylor in a statement. “The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.”