Twitter announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Elon Musk, for $54.20 per share, in cash in a transaction worth approximately $44 billion. Upon completion of the transactions, Twitter will become a privately owned company (ie, it will no longer trade its shares on the stock exchange).
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said:
Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. I am deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.
For his part, Elon Musk said:
Freedom of expression is the foundation of a functioning democracy and Twitter is the digital public square where vital issues for the future of humanity are debated. I also want to do a Twitter, improving the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the user community to unlock it.
This agreement ends a back and forth saga between Musk and the Twitter board, now pending to see what the future of the social network will be, in the hands of Elon Musk.
Will Elon Musk fulfill his promise of freedom of speech? Time will tell.
Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/elon-musk-to-acquire-twitter-301532245.html