Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has finally acquired Twitter on Monday for $44 billion, according to a series of reports from those familiar with the transactions.
The billionaire, who had attacked the platform for not adhering to its free speech policy enough, took to his Twitter page immediately the deal was closed to declare that “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 then added that he “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 spambots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”
Musk had secured $46.5 billion in financing last week, according to a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The billionaire had threatened to acquire the company directly from shareholders if Twitter’s board of directors turned his offer of $54.20 a share down. However, on Monday morning, Twitter and Elon Musk were said to be finalising the deal.
The series of reports compelled the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to halt trading in Twitter stock to curb volatility following an over 5% jump in the price of the stock.
