Twitter’s board agrees to sell the social media platform to Elon Musk for $44 billion

Twitter has agreed to be acquired by Elon Musk in a deal that values the company at $44 billion, the board announced Monday afternoon. (Read More Here).

“The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders,” Bret Taylor the company’s independent board chair, said in a statement.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, reiterated his plans to remake Twitter as a forum dedicated to promoting free speech.

“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,” he said in a statement.

Musk also said he plans on “making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans” on the platform

The billionaire disclosed earlier this month that he had become Twitter’s largest shareholder, and soon after proposed to buy the company outright and take it private. Twitter’s board initially resisted the offer, adopting an anti-takeover measure known as a poison pill.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal also applauded the deal in the release. “Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world,” Agrawal said in an accompanying statement. “Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.”

Musk laid out his plan for funding the deal in an SEC filing on Thursday, which includes $25.5 billion in loans and $21 billion in personal equity. Analysts believe the loans could cost Twitter as much as $1 billion a year in servicing fees, or roughly 20 percent of the company’s annual revenue.

Shortly after Musk announced the buyout plan, Twitter’s board instituted a “poison pill” measure, suggesting it intended to resist Musk’s buyout. It’s unclear what led to the company’s change of heart. A New York Times report on Monday described Twitter employees as divided by the news, receiving little information concerning the ongoing talks.

It’s unclear what impact Musk will have on Twitter or where he’ll start with changes. When he first disclosed his 9.2 percent stake in Twitter, he polled Twitter users on the creation of an “edit” button, which Twitter was already developing. He later suggested nixing ads from Twitter Blue, lowering its subscription price, and adding Dogecoin as a payment option.

Musk has been outspoken in his criticism of Twitter moderation, describing himself as a “free speech absolutist” and raising concerns over how the platform would moderate under his control. “It’s just really important that people have the reality and the perception that they’re able to speak freely within the bounds of the law,” Musk said in an interview with Chris Anderson during TED 2022. “I think broadly, the civilizational risk is decreased the more we can increase the trust of Twitter as a public platform.”