Elon Musk buys Twitter, will take social media giant private

Elon Musk has entered into an agreement with Twitter to purchase the social media company for around $44 billion, or $54.20 per share, Twitter announced Monday.

Once the transaction is complete, Twitter will become a privately held company, controlled by the billionaire Tesla founder.

"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.

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Earlier this month, Twitter's board rejected Musk's offer and voted unanimously to adopt a "poison pill" plan to prevent Musk from acquiring the company. In response, Musk considered making his pitch directly to shareholders in what's known as a tender offer. Other analysts predicted Musk could challenge the poison pill in court, which would have forced Twitter's board to prove that their actions served the best interests of shareholders.

Musk made his offer to acquire Twitter after buying a 9.2 percent stake in the company at the beginning of April and then declining to join the company's board.

"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," Musk said after reaching an agreement to purchase Twitter. "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."