Elon Musk strikes $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, wants to make it 'better than ever'
Twitter will become a privately held company upon completion of the transaction.
FollowTwitter has confirmed the sale of the company to billionaire Elon Musk for $44 billion following which the latter reiterated that free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy and that the micro-blogging platform is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.
The confirmation draws an end to a process that has been the subject matter of intense speculation and debate in the last few weeks. Twitter will become a privately-held firm when the transaction is completed.
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Musk is providing an approximately $21 billion equity commitment. Besides, he had secured $25.5 billion of fully-committed debt and margin loan financing.
As per the terms of the agreement, Twitter stockholders will get $54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter common stock that they own upon closing the proposed transaction. The purchase price represents a 38 per cent premium to Twitter's closing stock price on April 1 -- the last trading day before Musk disclosed his 9 per cent stake in Twitter.
Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world, CEO Parag Agrawal said, adding that he was deeply proud of the teams and inspired by their work which has never been more important.
The transaction was unanimously approved by the Twitter Board of Directors and is expected to be closed in 2022 once it gets the nod of Twitter stockholders, and receives applicable regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
Twitter's Independent Board Chairman Bret Taylor said they (the board) conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon's proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing.
The transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, Taylor said, asserting that this would be the best way forward for Twitter's stockholders.
'Want to make Twitter better than ever'
In his message following the Twitter Board's decision, Musk termed free speech as the bedrock of a functioning democracy. Calling the micro-blogging platform the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated, Musk said that he would make Twitter better than ever.
He assured that Twitter would be enhanced with newer features, 'making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spambots, and authenticating all humans'.
Reinforcing that the platform has tremendous potential, the billionaire said he looked forward to working with the firm and the community of users to unlock Twitter's true potential.
Also Read: Takeover Timeline: How Elon Musk won Twitter in just 31 days
