Musk Says Platform Has Potential To Advance ‘Free Speech Around the Globe’
April 14, 2022—In yet another twist and extraordinary move, Elon Musk made an offer on Wednesday to buy 100 percent of the shares of the social networking site Twitter.
It comes after Musk, the world’s richest person, spent $2.64 billion this year to purchase a 9 percent stake in the company. He briefly agreed to join the company’s board on April 9, but then changed course. In an April 13 letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk said he wants to turn the firm back into a private company.
“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 wrote. “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.”
Potential, But Only If Private, Musk Says
To take it private, Musk would purchase 100 percent of the shares at a cost of $54.20 per share. He said it is his “best and final offer.” Furthermore, he said he would reconsider his current position as a shareholder if Twitter’s board rejects it.
“Twitter has extraordinary potential,” Musk wrote. “I will unlock it.”
However, Musk added in a text to Twitter’s CEO Parag Agrawal, he doesn’t have confidence Twitter can make the “necessary change” as a public company.
The news comes just days after Agrawal announced that Musk is not joining the board.
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