Elon Musk has made an offer of $43 billion in cash to take over Twitter Inc and turn it private with the aim to make it a free speech platform.
Musk, who recently became Twitter's second-largest shareholder, speaking at a TED Talk in Vancouver, said:
"I think it's very important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech."
In a letter to the Twitter board on Wednesday, Musk made the bid of $54.20 per share, which represents a 38% premium to Twitter's April 1 close. Prior to this, his Twitter 9.1% stake was made public.
Musk, who, according to Forbes, is the richest person in the world with a fortune of $273.6 billion, turned down an offer to become part of the company's board on Saturday. Analysts believe that the move implies his takeover intentions, since a seat on the board would limit his shareholding to under 15%.
Following his TED talk, Musk implied that it would be possible to bypass Twitter's board through a hostile bid that would place the offer directly to its shareholders.
He said:
"It would be utterly indefensible not to put this offer to a shareholder vote."
A source revealed that the offer is under evaluation by Twitter, with consultation from Goldman Sachs and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. It has also been reported that the company is setting in place protective measures against Musk so that he is unable to raise his stake on Friday.
[Based on reporting by: Reuters]
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