Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and the world’s richest man, has signed a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion.
The deal will give Musk personal control over Twitter, one of the most influential social media platforms.
Musk, who has 84.6 million followers and often tweets, is a twitter fan, the BBC reported.
Musk’s tweets have generated controversy many times to date.
Musk reduced Tesla’s value by $14 billion in a tweet, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission banned him from sharing about the company.
British diver Vernon Unsworth, who took part in the rescue of children trapped in a cave in Thailand in 2018, sued Musk over his tweets accusing him of being a paedophile.
But despite this, Musk did not stop actively using Twitter, instead insisting on buying the site, which was founded 16 years ago.
So why did Musk want to buy Twitter so badly?
Twitter’s Board of Directors initially tried to avoid Musk’s trap by selling the company’s shares to all other shareholders.
The company considered protecting the right of existing shareholders other than potential buyers to buy shares at a lower price through the so-called ‘poison pill’ measure.
Musk, however, managed to reach a $44 billion deal with the board to buy the site at a price of $54.20 per share.
Musk, known as a brave man who likes to test boundaries and break the rules, said he does not aim to make money through the company and wants more freedom of expression.
Announcing the agreement to buy Twitter, Musk said on Twitter:
“Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is a digital challenge where issues vital to the future of humanity are discussed. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by improving the product with new features, open sourceing algorithms to increase trust, beating spam bots, and verifying the identity of all people. Twitter has tremendous potential. I look forward to working with the company and the user community to bring it out.”
This is not a private company’s sale to a private individual and the merger of two large companies. That’s why it will be easier for Musk to get approval from market regulators.
Some question the idea that Musk is so eager to buy the site because of his desire to make money.
Twitter’s main business model is based on advertising revenue, and Musk has said he wants to change that, aiming to move to a subscription system.
Some experts believe that Musk, who loves cryptocurrencies, can use Twitter to encourage payments to be made in volatile and unprotected cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
