Elon Musk wants to buy Twitter for $43 billion

Elon Musk's Twitter venture has been dominating the news lately. The Tesla co-founder first purchased a 9.2% stake in Twitter and was offered a seat at the company's board, a position which he turned down. Then, he was sued by shareholders for artificially deflating Twitter's share price by not disclosing his investment to the SEC in a timely manner.

Now, it seems we have finally learned why the executive turned down a seat at the board. If Musk had accepted the position, he would legally bound not to purchase more than a 14.9% stake in the firm or take it over. Since he is not bound by these rules anymore, Musk has offered to buy the entire company for a sum of $43 billion at a rate of $54.20 per share.

In a regulatory SEC filing, Musk has told Twitter's Chairman of the Board that:

I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.

However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.

As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced. My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.

Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.

Another exchange also has Musk saying that this is his best and final offer and that he will not go back-and-forth on it, since it is already at a premium over the current stock price. He has also expressed intentions to make the company private.

If Musk's offer is not accepted, Musk has stated that he would need to "reconsider" his position as a shareholder, which basically means that he would dump his stocks. The executive has sternly emphasized that the changes he plans to make can't happen unless the company goes private and the current management cooperates with him.

While the offer sounds good on paper, Musk's statements about free speech, taking the company private, and other planned changes might sound some alarm bells for some shareholders, considering the eccentric entrepreneur's penchant for finding himself embroiled in controversies regularly. Naturally, if he's associated with Twitter as the owner, his actions would reflect on the platform and its resultant stock price too. We will let you know as the situation develops.