(Fwrd Axis) — Twitter announced Monday it has accepted billionaire Elon Musk’s offer to buy the social media company and take it private, closing a deal worth $44 billion.
Twitter will become a private company once the deal is complete.
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in a statement included in the press release announcing the $44 billion deal. “I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spambots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”
Elon Musk has been a heavy critic of the platform, specifically how it regulates what people are allowed to say, referring to the social media company cracking down on misinformation, calls for violence, harassment, and conspiracy theories.
Republican politicians and conservative commentators have been vocal about the company ever since the company banned former President Donald Trump after his tweets regarding the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.
The deal comes after hitting some roadblocks over the past few days. It was initially unclear how Musk would fund the deal and Elon Musk’s first offer was too low given it had recently surged above that price tag.
“Under the terms of the agreement, Twitter stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter common stock that they own upon closing of the proposed transaction,” Twitter said in a statement. “The purchase price represents a 38% premium to Twitter’s closing stock price on April 1, 2022.”
Musk has previously said he would support “time outs” instead of permanent banning, suggesting Trump could return to the platform. However, the former President says he would not be returning to the platform and stay on his website, TRUTH Social.
