Twitter and Elon Musk have reached an agreement for him to buy the social media platform in a $44 billion (£34.5 billion) deal.
The struggle between the world’s richest person and the internet’s water-cooler has been bubbling along for the last couple of weeks.
But Musk, who already runs SpaceX and Tesla and is involved with Neuralink and The Boring Company, emerged victorious tonight.
The announcement came after lengthy talks between the two parties that started Sunday and went into Monday.
The agreement isn’t the final step to the deal, but it means Musk is in the very last steps of acquiring the site.
In a statement, the businessman said: ‘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.’
Bret Taylor, chair of Twitter’s board, said it had fully assessed the offer and decided it was ‘the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders’.
Musk’s bid for the social media giant, co-founded by Jack Dorsey, was first offered on April 14 as a ‘best and final’ deal to take the company private.
He initially offered about $43 billion – $54.20 a share – but the final extra billion is thought to reflect the purchase of additional shares revealed by Twitter.
Following his first bid, Musk unveiled his financing package to back the acquisition which included money from backers as well as capital provided by Musk himself.
The package led to Twitter’s board taking the deal more seriously after seemingly trying to stop the acquisition from happening.
Crucially, the world’s richest person, negotiated to buy Twitter in a personal capacity and Tesla was not involved in the deal at all.
Twitter wasn’t able to secure a ‘go-shop’ provision under its agreement with Musk that would allow it to solicit other bids once the deal is signed, the sources said.
Many shareholders asked the company not to let the deal slip away after it was made.
The sale represents an admission by Twitter that its new chief executive Parag Agrawal, who took the helm in November, is not making enough traction in making the company more profitable, despite being on track to meet ambitious financial goals the company set for 2023.
Musk’s negotiating tactics – making one offer and sticking with it – resembles how another billionaire, Warren Buffett, negotiates acquisitions.
The SpaceX and Tesla boss is adamant Twitter needs to become a private company to make the necessary changes.
‘I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,’ Musk said in his initial filing.
‘I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form.’
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