Steph Deschamps / April 25, 2022
It's now official. Billionaire Elon Musk has bought the social network Twitter for nearly $44 billion
The businessman, boss of Tesla and SpaceX, has reached an agreement with Twitter's board of directors to buy the social network for $54.20 per share, or about $44 billion. Twitter will also become a private company not listed on the stock market.
The richest man in the world thus acquires the platform that he considers the digital public square where vital issues for the future of humanity are debated, according to the Twitter statement.
Elon Musk was already a shareholder in Twitter with a 9% stake. In early April, he proposed to buy the social network in a letter addressed to Bret Taylor, chairman of the board of directors, and published in a document sent on April 13 to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He had indicated that his proposal was "his best and final offer.
In case of refusal, Elon Musk had threatened to launch a hostile takeover bid by going directly through the shareholders to bypass the board of directors.
With Twitter in his pocket, Elon Musk's goal is to promote freedom of expression, which he feels is limited on the social network. He considers the moderation of content to be too severe.
Some observers believe that the South African-born entrepreneur could reauthorize deleted accounts, such as that of Donald Trump.
The former U.S. president was permanently suspended from Twitter in January 2021 for calling to contest the results of the presidential election and calling for violence.
Elon Musk has already suggested several changes, such as adding an edit button to correct a tweet after publication, and changes in the paid subscription formula. Freedom of speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, he said. The businessman currently has 83.6 million followers on the social network.