Finance

Elon Musk, Justin Sun offers to buy Twitter

04/14/2022
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TL;DR Breakdown:

  • Elon Musk has offered to buy out Twitter shares for about $43 million.
  • Musk believes he can unlock the full potential of Twitter when privatized.
  • Tron founder, Justin Sun, is also interested and has offered more for Twitter. 

Early in April, Tesla founder Elon Musk disclosed a 9.2% stake in social media platform Twitter. Today, the billionaire is offering to outrightly buy and privatize the company, saying that “Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.” However, it appears Musk isn’t the only billionaire interested in buying Twitter. 

Elon Musk reveals $43 billion bid on Twitter

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Musk offered to take Twitter private with $43 billion or $54.20 per share. According to him, Twitter “needs to be transformed as a private company” to thrive and serve the “Free Speech” societal imperative. 

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, Musk wrote. However, since making my investment, I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form.

At $54.20 per share, Elon Musk is offering the shareholders a 54% premium over the day before he began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before he officially disclosed his stake in the company.

In response to the development, the board of directors at Twitter said they “will carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company and all Twitter stockholders.” Musk said he would reconsider his investment in the company if the offer was denied.

Musk, not alone

Shortly after the news broke, the founder of TRON Network and ambassador, Permanent Representative of Grenada to the WTO, Justin Sun, also unofficially disclosed an interest to buy Twitter. He tweeted that the company is far from unleashing its full potential and offered “$60 per share” to privatize the social media platform.

Elon Musk intends to pursue free speech with Twitter, amongst other improvements, like having cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin as a subscription option for Twitter Blue, whereas Sun wants to drive Twitter to a more open, decentralized, crypto-native, and Web3-friendly framework.