Twitter’s Board of Directors has approved Elon Musk’s offer to purchase the social media firm and take it private in a transaction valued at about $44 billion, the company announced Monday.
The company accepted the billionaire’s proposal of $54.20 per share.
“Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important,” said CEO Parag Agrawal in the corporate announcement.
“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,” said Musk in a statement. “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.”
It has been a roller coaster ride in this saga since Musk first acquired a 9.2 percent stake in the tech company earlier this month. From rejecting a seat on the Board of Directors to multiple Twitter polls sponsored by the billionaire CEO, there have been many twists and turns in recent weeks.
Despite the uncertainty stemming from Musk’s tweets and the constant corporate developments, shares have rallied more than 30 percent on the news, topping $50 a share.
