The board of directors of the microblogging app, Twitter, has accepted the $44 billion bid by billionaire Elon Musk.
Driving the news
The 11-member board includes Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey accepted the $44 billion (or £34.5 billion) bid by Elon Musk barely two weeks after the tech mogul’s shocking one-time offer.
By the numbers
Elon Musk is placing the microblogging app’s share at $54.20 as half of the funding for his latest acquisition is coming from his personal finances. The rest comes from loans.
What they are saying
Elon Musk, in a press release via his Twitter handle, says that “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.” The Chief Engineer of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla added that Twitter has tremendous potential and he would add new features to further enhance the product.
Meanwhile
Twitter board chair Bret Taylor in a statement said the board conducted a thorough and comprehensive process while examining Elon Musk’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing. He added that the board believes the deal would provide substantial premium cash and is best for stockholders.
Rumored changes
- At the TED 2022 conference in April 2022, Elon Musk noted that Twitter needed an edit button. The result of a poll conducted by Elon Musk on whether his followers would want an edit button showed a 74% yes response.
- Also, in April 2022, Elon Musk clamored for longer characters for tweets. Twitter has a 280-character limit, improved from 140 in 2017.
- Elon Musk is a huge supporter of free speech and has in the past condemned the regulation of content beyond the instituted laws of countries.
- Another change that might be seen is the authentication of all Twitter users.
- Elon Musk is also a huge fan of open-source algorithms.