Image: Patrick Pleul/Pool via Reuters
Billionaire Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter for about $41bn (about R600.7bn) in cash, saying the social media company he has often criticised needs to go private to see effective changes.
Musk's offer price of $54.20 per share, which was disclosed in a regulatory filing on Thursday, represents a 38% premium to Twitter's April 1 close, the last trading day before the Tesla CEO's more than 9% stake in the company was made public.
The total deal value was calculated based on 763.58-million shares outstanding, according to Refinitiv data.
Musk rejected an offer to join Twitter's board earlier this week after disclosing his stake in the company, a move which analysts said signalled his intention to take over the company as a board seat would have limited his stake to just under 15%.
“Since making my investment I now realise the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company,” Musk said in a letter to Twitter chair Bret Taylor.
“My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder,” Musk added.
Twitter did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Musk has amassed over 80-million followers since joining the site in 2009 and has used the platform to make several announcements, including teasing a go-private deal for Tesla that landed him in hot water with regulators.
Musk said Morgan Stanley was the financial adviser for the offer.