• by Colin Kirkland , April 25, 2022

It’s official -- weeks after Elon Musk’s initial offer, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has persuaded Twitter to sell for $54.20 per share in cash, valuing the now-private social media company at approximately $44 billion. 

“The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon's proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing,” says Bret Taylor, Twitter's Independent Board Chair, in a press release.

“The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Twitter stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter common stock that they own upon closing of the proposed transaction.

The purchase price represents a 38% premium to Twitter’s closing stock price on April 1, 2022 -- the last trading day before Musk announced his 9.2% stake in the company.

Musk has secured $25.5 billion of fully committed debt and margin loan financing and is responsible for around half of the financing, providing approximately a $21 billion equity commitment.

“Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important,” says Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s current CEO, in a press release.

It is still unclear whether Agrawal will remain in his position at the company, or if Musk will fill that role himself.

“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,” Musk said in the release.

“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,” he added.

Musk also tweeted earlier Monday morning that he hopes even his “worst critics remain on Twitter,” because, according to him, “that is what free speech means.”