Elon Musk offers to continue with $43b Twitter buyout

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Elon Musk will proceed with his pledge to buy Twitter, Bloomberg reports.

In a letter to Twitter’s leadership, Musk offered to pay $54.20 a share – the same sum proposed in his original buyout offer.

In total, the deal values Twitter at $43b.

If Twitter’s leadership and shareholders consent, the company will cease being publicly traded.

The Story So Far

This news represents another twist in the fractious buyout negotiations between Musk and Twitter.

Musk made his first offer in April 2022, citing discontent with Twitter’s moderation policies.

In the months prior, the controversial Tesla CEO had steadily built a significant shareholding in the company.

By April, Musk’s ownership stake had reached 9.2 percent, making him Twitter’s largest shareholder. Although Twitter initially responded with a neutral, non-committal stance, its position later hardened.

The company’s board of directors proposed changing the company’s constitution to dilute Musk’s holdings in the event of a hostile takeover. Pressure from other shareholders persuaded Twitter to change course.

In late April, Twitter’s board of directors accepted Musk’s terms. But this was not the end of the sordid saga.

Musk attempted to renegotiate the company’s price over claims that “bots” account for a disproportionate amount of Twitter’s user activity.

In July, he announced plans to withdraw from the deal, prompting Twitter to file suit in civil court.

Twitter sought to compel Musk to follow through on the buyout deal, with a hearing scheduled to take place over five days in Delaware state court.

Despite Twitter’s initial reluctance, the uncertainty surrounding the potential takeover has inflicted material damage on the company’s financials.

In its latest quarterly report, Twitter blamed the ongoing Musk buyout saga for a decline in revenue.  

The End of the Beginning

Although this story nears its final chapter, much hangs in the balance.

Although Elon Musk is currently the world’s richest man, his net worth is largely based on his ownership of Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and OpenAI.

To buy Twitter, Musk will have to secure finance from external partners. And Twitter’s board – and its shareholders – will need to give their final consent.

We’re not at the end. But we’re at the beginning of the end.

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