Shares of Twitter Inc. ticked higher in Monday’s trading session after the firm had accepted the buyout offer from billionaire Elon Musk.
The microblogging platform jumped 5.66% or 2.77 points to $51.70 per share. Then, it eventually rose 0.43% or 0.22 points to $51.92 per share in the extended trading.
This upward movement added $175.26 million to the company’s market valuation.
In the cash deal, shareholders will receive $54.20 for each share of Twitter stock they own. This matches Musk’s original offer, marking a 38.00% premium over the stock price.
Correspondingly, experts anticipated the accord, approved by Twitter’s board, to close this year.
Twitter would become a private company upon completion of the agreement. Consequently, the accord requires shareholder and regulatory approval.
Musk emphasized in a statement that free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy. He said that Twitter is the digital town square, catering talks on essential things for the future of humanity.
The Tesla CEO also wants to improve the social network service by enhancing the product with new features. He said it would make the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeat the spambots, and authenticate all humans.
Accordingly, this announcement ended a weekslong saga Musk kicked off when he disclosed a significant stake in the company.
The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess the proposal.
Initially, the firm sought to fend off a hostile takeover by adopting the poison pill strategy. This move prohibited a person or group from acquiring more than 15.00% of outstanding common stock.
Nevertheless, the success of the acquisition deal would expand the billionaire’s business empire.
This would put the world’s richest man in charge of an influential social network.
What does Musk mean for Twitter?
Elon Musk is both a high-profile Twitter user and a controversial one. Currently, he has more than 83.00 million followers on the platform.
However, critics raised concerns about the billionaire’s control over the site. They expected the acquisition would result in silencing their voices.
They noted that the Tesla executive often blocked critics from his personal account, contradicting his main interest in free speech.
Experts also noted that Musk’s plans could roll back the platform’s effort to curb hate speech and other harmful content.
Twitter is notably smaller than some social media rivals. Regardless, it has an outsized influence in the online and offline worlds. The firm has acted as a model for other platforms to handle harmful content.
