Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44 billion; users react with memes
It is now official. Elon Musk has finally acquired a 100% stake in Twitter for around $44 billion. The microblogging company, on Monday (local time), confirmed the sale of the company to Tesla CEO Elon Musk for USD 44 billion, around $54.20 per share and all of it in cash.
According to CNN, under the terms of the deal, shareholders will receive USD 54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter stock they own, matching Musk's original offer and marking a 38% premium over the stock price the day before Musk announced his stake in the firm.
It further added that the deal caps off a frenetic news cycle in which the Tesla and SpaceX CEO became one of Twitter's largest shareholders, was offered and declined a seat on its board, and made a bid to buy the firm – all in less than a month.
"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 Tesla CEO, Elon Musk said in a statement.
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"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," Musk added.
The deal comes after Musk last week revealed that he had lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy the company, an apparent turning point that forced Twitter's board to seriously consider the deal. Notably, the board met Sunday to evaluate Musk's offer.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said that "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."
After news broke Monday, meme creators quickly got to work reacting to the shake-up. Meanwhile, the Twitter users greeted new owner Elon Musk in his own language.