Twitter gets new owner! Elon Musk acquires Twitter for USD 44 billion

 New Delhi, April 26: After revolutionising the car industry, and sending his own rocket to space, billionaire Elon Musk has now taken control of one of the most influential social media platforms. While ending the week-long speculation, Elon Musk acquired Twitter for approximately $44 billion, with shares valued at $54.20. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of Twitter.

 

 

Musk had announced his takeover bid on April 14, calling it his ‘best and final offer’. But his bid initially saw Twitter’s put in place a ‘poison pill defence’ against the hostile takeover. However, once Musk announced that he had secured funding, the board went into negotiations with the Tesla co-founder.

 

After taking the control of Twitter, Elon Musk issued his first statement and said, 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.

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"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. I 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 said in a press statement posted to his Twitter account.

 

 

 

Twitter said the transaction had been unanimously approved by its board of directors and was expected to close in 2022, pending regulatory sign-off and the approval of shareholders. The platform has 217 active daily users.

 

"Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world," Twitter’s chief executive, Parag Agrawal, said in a tweet confirming the sale. "Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important."

 

The microblogging platform has locked changes to its source code hours after the development to prevent disgruntled Twitter employees from making unauthorised changes to the platform.