OFFICIAL! Elon Musk now owns Twitter, reveals $44 billion deal

Elon Musk has finally confirmed buying Twitter and taking it private for $44 billion. Here are all the details.

Elon Musk reveals deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. Here are all the details. (REUTERS)

Elon Musk owns Tesla, SpaceX, and now Twitter! After rumours of a deal floated last evening, Musk has made it official. The Tesla CEO will buy Twitter for $44 billion, with shares valued at $54.20. Musk also says that he will take the company private and bring changes to the platform to make it better than ever for debates and everything else. Musk later put out tweets too, highlighting his plans and some other related stuff.

“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. 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,” said Elon Musk in a statement via his Twitter account.

Elon Musk buys Twitter

The all cash deal is said to be completed by the end of the year. “Under the terms of the agreement, Twitter stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter common stock that they own upon closing of the proposed transaction. The purchase price represents a 38% premium to Twitter's closing stock price on April 1, 2022, which was the last trading day before Mr. Musk disclosed his approximately 9% stake in Twitter,” said Twitter in an official press release.

“The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon's proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing. The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders,” said Bret Taylor, Twitter's Independent Board Chair.

Parag Agrawal, Twitter's new CEO, also commented on the deal going official. “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,” said Agrawal.

Agrawal, however, also expressed his uncertainty over the deal. "Once the deal closes, we don't know which direction the platform will go," Agrawal said.

Between January and March of 2022, Elon Musk had started buying shares of Twitter. Musk had bought over 5 percent stake in the company by that time and later went on to become the company's largest stakeholder with an overall share of 9.2 percent by April. Musk later offered a deal to buy Twitter and after two weeks of considerations by the Twitter board, this deal comes up.