Elon Musk offers to buy up Twitter in $43bn dollar takeover

14 April 2022, 11:38 | Updated: 14 April 2022, 11:55

Elon Musk has made a “best and final” offer to buy Twitter saying the company has extraordinary potential and he will unlock it.

He became the social media firm's biggest shareholder when he bought a nine percent stake earlier this year.

The world’s richest man said he will pay $54.20 per share in cash, representing a 54% premium over the Jan 28. closing price and a value of about $43 billion. The social media company’s shares soared 18% on the news.

Elon Musk is currently worth about $260 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index.

Twitter’s current market valuation stands at about $37 billion.

Mr Musk said his valuation represents a "38% premium" to the price of Twitter stock the day before it was announced he had invested in the company earlier this month.

The move comes after Twitter announced Mr Musk would join the company's board, only for the Tesla boss to change his mind.

In his offer letter to Bret Taylor, the chairman of the Twitter board, Mr Musk said he had invested in the social media platform because he believed in its ability to support free speech, but that since investing he had realised "the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form".

He said the move was his "best and final offer" and if it was not accepted he "would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder".