As he launched ten days ago to be ready to buy Twitter, it was difficult to know if he was joking or if his ambitions were serious. We now have the answer: Monday, April 25, 2022, a press release confirmed the takeover of the social network from the blue bird by the 50-year-old businessman. Elon Musk is one of the richest in the world with an estimated personal fortune of $264 billion.
Elon Musk has reached a definitive agreement with the board of directors of Twitter to buy the social network, valued at 44 billion dollars, despite the initial opposition displayed by the board. But the South African businessman, naturalized American in 2002, had adopted a profitable strategy to achieve his ends. Elon Musk said he had secured $46.5 billion to carry out the operation thanks to his personal fortune and two bank loans from Morgan Stanley. He also threatened to launch a hostile takeover bid directly through shareholders. “Once the financing was put in place with the threat of a hostile takeover, the Board could no longer resort to a white knight or a second bidder. It put their backs to the wall and compelled them to come to the negotiating table.“, noted Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities.
Elon Musk will buy the social network at a price of 54.20 dollars per share – 38% more than its value at the close of the New York Stock Exchange on April 1, 2022 – and make it a private company, not listed on the stock exchange. . He has already reacted to this deal: “Freedom of expression is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital public square where issues vital to the future of humanity are debated. I hope even my worst critics stay on Twitter, that’s what free speech means (…) I want to make Twitter better than ever by improving it with new features, making algorithms open source to increase trust, defeat spam bots, and authenticate all humans.“
With more than 83 million subscribers, Elon Musk uses his Twitter account almost every day to give news of his companies, jokes or start controversies. The father of 7 children, and ex-boyfriend of actress Amber Heard, even likes to troll on Twitter. This takeover is already worrying politicians, journalists and NGOs. Former US President Donald Trump, permanently suspended from Twitter in January 2021 for inciting violence, has warned that he does not intend to return to the network even if the businessman allows it. As for his successor Joe Biden, the President of the United States said to himself “worried about the power of large social networks on our daily lives“, regardless of the boss.