The Tesla CEO sent an offer letter to the company Wednesday night, according to the filing
Elon Musk has made an offer to buy Twitter (TWTR) and take it private, saying he believes the company needs to be "transformed."
According to an SEC filing, Musk has offered to acquire all the shares in Twitter he does not own for $54.20 per share, valuing the company at $41.4 billion. That represents a 38% premium over the closing price on April 1, the last trading day before Musk disclosed that he had become Twitter's biggest shareholder, and an 18% premium over its closing price Wednesday.
Musk said the cash offer was his "best and final offer," according to the SEC filing, adding that if it's not accepted he would have to reconsider his position as a shareholder.
The Tesla CEO sent an offer letter to the company Wednesday night, according to the filing.
"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," he said in the letter to Twitter. "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."
The letter was addressed to Bret Taylor, the chair of the Twitter board, not CEO Parag Agrawal, who assumed that title last fall. It concludes: "Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it."
Twitter issued a statement Thursday confirming that it had received the offer. The company said its board would carefully review the proposal "to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the company and all Twitter stockholders." Twitter declined to comment as to when its board would meet to discuss the offer.
Shares of Twitter (TWTR) shot up as much as 13% in premarket trading on the offer Thursday, but soon retreated and were trading up about 5% at the market open. They were little changed at midday and slipped into negative territory, suggesting that investors had doubts the offer will be accepted.
But it will be difficult for Twitter to reject Musk's bid at the price he is offering, said Dan Ives, tech analyst with Wedbush Securities.
"Musk is putting the Twitter board's backs against the wall," Ives said. "The premium is at a level that will be hard to see other bids occurring."
But to get a return on a bid this high, Twitter would need to do more to bring in subscriber revenue and cut costs, Ives said. Musk's commitment to use the company to promote greater free speech doesn't do much, if anything, to increase its profitability, Ives said.
"Musk making this about free speech is the exact opposite of what every other corporate raider would do about monetizing the company's value," he added. "It's historic and bizarre at the same time."
Musk has 81.6 million Twitter followers, far more than any other other CEO, and is a much more prolific tweeter than the handful of celebrities who have even more followers than he does.
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