On Thursday, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered to buy 100 percent of Twitter for $54.20 per share “in cash.” Musk said the deal – which tops $40 billion – is his “best and final offer.”
In an SEC filing submitted Wednesday, Musk told Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor that he would “unlock” Twitter’s “extraordinary potential.”
Musk’s letter to Taylor said the following:
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.
/S/ Elon Musk
Musk’s offer comes just days after Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced that the billionaire would not join Twitter’s board.
“Elon Musk has decided not to join our board,” Agrawal said in a statement posted on Twitter. “The Board and I had many discussions about Elon joining the board, and with Elon directly. We were excited to collaborate and clear about the risks. We also believed that having Elon as a fiduciary of the company where he, like all board members, has to act in the best interests of the company and all our shareholders, was the best path forward. The board offered him a seat.”
“We announced on Tuesday that Elon would be appointed to the Board contingent on a background check and formal acceptance,” he continued. “Elon’s appointment to the board was to become officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board. I believe this is for the best. We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our Board or not. Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input.”
Agrawal’s statement concluded with a cryptic warning that “there will be distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged.”
“The decisions we make and how we execute is in our hands, no one else’s,” Agrawal concluded. “Let’s tune out the noise, and stay focused on the work and what we’re building.”
