Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) has announced that it has entered into a final and definitive agreement to be acquired by Elon Musk through a wholly owned business entity managed by the tech billionaire and crypto supporter.
Exact details of the finalized agreement peg the deal to be valued at approximately $44 billion, at an acquisition price of $54.20 per share in cash. Once completed, the deal will see Twitter become a privately held company managed by Elon Musk’s undisclosed business entity. Twitter stockholders will also receive an equivalent $52.20 in cash for each share of Twitter common class stock that they hold as the proposed acquisition closes out. The share price for this purchase represents a 38% premium to Twitter’s last recorded closing stock price on April 1st, 2022, the same day that Musk disclosed that he had 9% stake in Twitter.
Elon Musk, a known supporter of crypto and even fringe meme coins such as Dogecoin, has had what has been called the “Musk effect” on the crypto space, which meant that every time he tweeted or suggested something over the social platform, people react to it wildly and either buy up or dump certain tokens, resulting in equivalent market movement for tokens in question, such as Dogecoin and Bitcoin.
With the news of the acquisition now confirmed, Musk took to Twitter to share a specific quote from himself sourced from the social platform’s official press release on the matter:
🚀💫♥️ Yesss!!! ♥️💫🚀 pic.twitter.com/0T9HzUHuh6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
According to Musk, free speech forms the cornerstone of a “functioning democracy” and that such a quality represents something a space that is in effect “vital to the future of humanity.” Musk currently heads other projects such as Tesla, an electric vehicle company, and SpaceX, a space and aeronautics firm building and serving some of the most important missions for NASA, the U.S. space agency.
“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,” shares Parag Agrawal, the social platform’s current CEO.
According to Twitter, its board of advisers has conducted a “thoughtful and comprehensive process” to assess Musk’s proposal, which was previously dismissed as an April Fool’s joke given the date of its initial disclosure. Twitter Independent Board Chair Bret Taylor highlighted how the assessment was based on value, certainty, and financing, as key components of the board’s judgment.
The deal will be finalized as 2022 comes to a close, subject to the approval of Twitter’s stockholders and the approval of regulatory bodies overseeing the matter. Musk has since secured $25.5 billion of fully committed debt and margin loan financing and is providing an approximately $21.0 billion equity commitment to complete the deal. Twitter is yet to release its first quarter earnings report for this year, which is scheduled on April 28th. The firm will no longer hold a conference call, due to the pending transaction with Musk and company.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
