Eleven days after he made an offer for Twitter, billionaire Elon Musk, who describes himself as a “free-speech absolutist”, on April 25 struck a deal to buy the microblogging platform for $44 billion
Billionaire Elon Musk strikes a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. On April 4, Musk’s stake in Twitter became public. Ten days later he announced his offer to buy Twitter in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. On April 25, the board of Twitter agreed to the offer of the world’s richest man.
On April 14, Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share in cash. Musk has described himself as a “free-speech absolutist” but is also known for blocking or disparaging other Twitter users who question or disagree with him.
Musk, Twitter’s new owner, is the eighth-most followed person on Twitter with 84.3 million followers (as of April 26, 2022, 8 am). “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 the maverick billionaire in a statement after the deal.
Here’s how Twitter shareholding looked when Musk's stake became public and a day after the Tesla CEO announced his plan to buy Twitter.
Elon Musk will have to pay Twitter Inc a fee of $1 billion if the billionaire terminates his $44 billion cash deal for the social media company, it said in a filing on Tuesday.
One of the conditions for Musk's payment is if the deal falls through because the equity, debt, and or margin loan financing needed is not funded, the filing said.
Twitter said on Monday that Musk had secured $25.5 billion of debt and margin loan financing and is providing a $21 billion equity commitment.
Twitter, which is subject to "no-shop" restrictions, will have to pay the same termination fee under specified circumstances, the filing said.
The filing also disclosed that the deal could be terminated if not closed by Oct. 24. The date could be extended for another six months to meet certain closing conditions such as antitrust and foreign investment clearances.
Musk, who is also the chief executive of electric-car maker Tesla Inc, clinched a deal to buy Twitter on Monday in a transaction that will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to the world's richest person.