Elon Musk has officially acquired Twitter in one of the biggest and most dramatic takeovers in history.
Sealing the $44 billion deal, the Tesla CEO and the world’s wealthiest man agreed to pay shareholders $54.20 per share to achieve the ownership of the company.
Following the controversial buyout, which has sparked debates concerning free speech and the spread of fake news and misinformation, Musk has issued a statement revealing his plans to enhance the platform and “unlock” its true potential.
“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,” the billionaire said.
“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 spam bots, and authenticating all humans.”
He added: “Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”
Musk’s biggest acquisition to date comes just two weeks after he revealed a 9% stake in the company. He has since formulated a $44 billion financing plan that was unanimously approved by Twitter’s 11-head board of directors.
“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 previously said in his proposal to acquire the platform after refusing to join its board of directors because doing so would not allow him to own more than 14.
9% of its outstanding stock.
“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.”
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