With a short, but direct, announcement, the shareholders of the popular social media company, Twitter, have stated that they have accepted Elon Musk’s $60 billion offer to buy the platform, with the billionaire celebrating on his profile and promising to stay true to the values of free speech.
The deal is now official! After a lengthy negotiation between the 11 board members of Twitter, it was unanimously decided that the platform will change ownership and move to the hands of Elon Musk.
The discussions, which seemed to have slowed down during the week, picked up again over the weekend after the billionaire shared the details of his offer with the board members, breaking down their resistances.
And be my love in the rain
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
That’s when the negotiations heated up, with the Twitter shareholders eventually deciding to accept the offer worth $75.60 per share.
Musk shared his excitement with his followers on Twitter, announcing the news with a simple ‘Yes’ surrounded by a series of emojis that also featured an image of his statements in which he points out:
“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,” said Musk.
🚀💫♥️ Yesss!!! ♥️💫🚀 pic.twitter.com/0T9HzUHuh6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
He added: “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. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”
Twitter’s shares rose by six percent following the announcement, with the platform pointing out that the change in ownership is expected to be finalised sometime at the end of the year.
It’s worth pointing out that throughout his campaign to acquire Twitter, Musk did not use a single piece of marketing or self-promotional material.
I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
His profile alone almost made it unnecessary, with his account having over 84 million followers and every single one of his tweets becoming a point of reference for the entire online community.
Following this news, Musk called out to those who criticise him to remain on the platform in accordance with the rules of free speech.
However, that doesn’t seem to be the case, as former US President Donald Trump has already articulated his intend to not return to the platform during an interview with Fox News, after being banned for allegedly violating its rules.
