Elon Musk to acquire Twitter in a $44 billion deal

Twitter Inc's board has accepted Elon Musk's offer to buy out the company for a $44 billion cash deal on Monday, enabling him to make Twitter private and unlock extraordinary potential with the platform

Earlier this month, Elon Musk made an offer to the Twitter board with a letter addressed to Bret Taylor, Chairman of the board.

"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.  

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.

As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced. My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.

Twitter has extraordinary potential.  I will unlock it." said Musk

Elon built on the acquisition conversation with Tweets advocating the need and importance of Twitter going private

The board however adopted a limited duration shareholder rights plan, also called the "poison pill", to block Elon Musk's buyout plan

Elon on the other hand stayed on course displaying how he would shape the future of the platform

In an effort to add more volume and seriousness to his offer, Musk listed three sources of funding for the offer in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The first two would be loans from investment bank Morgan Stanley and other banks, worth $13 billion and $12.5 billion, respectively. The third source was described as an equity commitment of $21 billion from Musk himself. That portion of the funding was less clearly spelled out, though it carried the strong implication that parts of Musk’s own stake in Tesla, the electric carmaker he runs, could be put on the line. (Source - The Washington Post)

Reports suggest that the Twitter board met Elon over the weekend to discuss the deal at length and on Monday 25th April 2022 the board finally accepted his offer to buy out the company at a cost of $54.20-per-share deal amounting to a sum of $44 billion cash

Hours before the official announcement, Elon Musk had tweeted

He also shared his quote from the official press release on Twitter

How it all started - A Quick Timeline

March 25th, 2022

Elon Musk ran an interesting poll on his Twitter handle

April 4th, 2022

It was revealed that Elon Musk had bought 9.2% stakes in Twitter on March 14th, 2022. The Move made him the single largest shareholder of the company. The Stock spiked up 27% the day the news went public.

April 5th, 2022

Musk started seeking public opinion on Twitter

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced his appointment to the board

"Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!", replied Musk.

Twitter Founder expressed his excitement about Elon Musk joining the board

April 9th, 2022

Elon Musk became more vocal about issues that were plaguing the platform in his opinion

April 11th, 2022

Agrawal tweeted about Musk's decision to not join the board and updated the public

Elon Musk made the best and final offer

April 21st, 2022

Musk revealed his sources of funding behind the offer

April 25th, 2022

The Board accepted the offer, completing Elon Musk's quest to take Twitter private