In one of the biggest deals in the tech world, billionaire Elon Musk has taken control of Twitter. Musk will acquire the social network for approximately $44 billion with shares valued at $54.20.
Twitter Inc. on Monday has accepted Elon Musk’s bid to take over the company, which would give the world’s richest man control over the social-media network where he is also among its most influential users.
In the press release, Musk repeated his refrain that “free speech” is key to Twitter’s future. After confirming the deal Musk posted to his Twitter account that “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. 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 spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”
The Tesla co-founder promised new features and has already proposed plans to take Twitter private. He also tweeted recently that if the twitter bid succeeds, they will defeat the spam bots or die trying.
Twitter says the transaction, which was unanimously approved by the board, will likely close this year following shareholder and regulatory approval and “the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.” Until those matters are resolved, it’s not a done deal.
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