By Jason Abbruzzese —
NBC News
Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter.
One of the world's richest men delivered a letter to the company with a proposal to acquire all of Twitter's outstanding shares for $54.20 each, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission published Thursday.
The letter, delivered Wednesday, amounts to an offer to take Twitter private, a move that would give Musk greater control of the company.
“I have invested in Twitter because I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the world, and I believe that free speech is a societal imperative for democracy to work,” Musk wrote in a letter to to Bret Taylor, chairman of the Twitter board of directors.
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The move comes after Musk first bought a major stake in Twitter in mid-March and subsequently agreed to serve on the company's board of directors, a move that was quickly reversed within days.
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Musk has criticized Twitter's efforts to moderate its platform, which have focused on misinformation, calls for violence, harassment and conspiracy theories.
Those moves have been criticized by many Republican politicians and conservative commentators, especially after Twitter banned access to former President Donald Trump.
“However, since making my investment I now realize that the company will not prosper or serve this social imperative in its current form.
Twitter needs to transform itself as a private company,"
Musk added in the letter.
Musk assured that his offer is to buy all of Twitter.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the opening of the company's factory in Gruenheide, Germany, on March 22, 2022. Patrick Pleul / AP
“As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I started investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before it was announced. publicly my investment,” Musk wrote.
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"My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would have to reconsider my position as a shareholder," he warned.
"Twitter has extraordinary potential," she added,
"I will unlock it
. "
