Elon Musk offered to take Twitter Inc. private in a deal valued at $43 billion saying he will be able to unlock “extraordinary potential” of the platform used daily by more than 200 million people.
Elon offered to pay $54.20 per share in cash, 38% above the the price on April 1 which is the last trading day before Elon made his stake in Twitter public. The proposed deal was announced in a filling with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.
He also first disclosed a stake of about 9% on April 4, making him the largest single investor.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s stock also fell about 3% on concern that the attempt to acquire Twitter will be a distraction for Elon.
According to CNBC, Twitter said its board would review the proposal and any response would be in the best interests of “all Twitter stockholders.” The board was due to meet at 10 a.m. New York time to evaluate the proposal.
Elong immediately began appealing to fellow users about prospective moves, from turning Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter and adding an edit button for tweets to granting automatic verification marks to premium users.
Saudi Arabian investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said on Thursday that as one of the major shareholders in Twitter he rejected a takeover bid.
“I don’t believe that the proposed offer by Elon Musk ($54.20 per share) comes close to the intrinsic value of Twitter given its growth prospects,” the prince said in a Twitter post.
