Elon Musk offers to buy rest of Twitter for $US54.20 a share

Musk calls the bid valued at $US43 billion ‘his best and final offer’, adding he isn’t ‘playing the back-and-forth game’.

Elon Musk has more than 80 million followers on Twitter. Earlier this year he built a 9.2% position in the social-media company. Picture: AFP

Elon Musk has offered to buy the rest of Twitter in a deal valuing the social-media company at more than $US43bn ($58bn), calling the bid his “best and final offer.”

“If it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder,” said Mr Musk, who earlier this year built a more than 9% position in the stock, making him the company’s largest shareholder.

“I am not playing the back-and-forth game,” Mr Musk said. “I have moved straight to the end.” Mr Musk said he would pay $54.20 a share in cash, representing what he said was a 54% premium over the day before he began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before his investment was publicly announced.

“It’s a high price, and your shareholders will love it,” Mr Musk said. “Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.”

Twitter confirmed it had received Mr Musk’s offer and said its board of directors would carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the company and all its shareholders.

On Wednesday, Twitter shares closed at $45.85. In premarket trading, the stock rose nearly 12% to $51.25. During the past year, Twitter’s shares have traded between $31.30 and $73.34.

The latest developments add to a whirlwind 10 days for Twitter. Mr Musk’s stake in the company was made public April 4, and plans for him to join the board were announced April 5. He then spent much of this past weekend tweeting criticisms, suggestions and apparent jokes about the company -- before deciding not to join the board earlier this week.

The Tesla CEO, with more than 80 million followers on Twitter, has long been one of Twitter’s most prominent users and, at times, one of its most vocal critics. A self-described “free speech absolutist,” Mr Musk has publicly encouraged the platform to allow a wide range of opinions.

The series of tweets over the weekend by Mr Musk, taken together, targeted the core of Twitter’s business, seemingly suggesting the company shut down its headquarters and cut staff while shifting from an ad-based business to one that depends more upon subscriptions to survive.

“The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends on advertising money to survive,” Mr Musk said in a tweet that was later deleted.

On Thursday, Mr Musk added to those comments. “As I indicated this weekend, I believe that the company should be private to go through the changes that need to be made,” he said in the filing.

Analysts have suggested that one of Mr Musk’s motivations could be to influence Twitter’s moderation policies, which he has criticised as being too restrictive.

Mr Musk said Thursday that he would consider selling his stake if the deal doesn’t work out. “Given that I don’t have confidence in management nor do I believe I can drive the necessary change in the public market, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.” The Tesla CEO is scheduled to talk Thursday at a TED conference in Vancouver. Separately, he tweeted Thursday, “I made an offer.” Mr Musk began buying Twitter shares on January 31, when the stock traded at $36.83, according to a filing earlier this month. Those purchases continued through April 1.

The Wall Street Journal