American microblogging and social networking website, Twitter, Inc., has agreed to be acquired by an entity solely owned by Elon Musk for $54.20 per share in cash. The transaction will be worth $44 billion, according to projections.
In recent days, Musk has been meeting with Twitter shareholders to seek support for his bid. According to him, he desires to privatize the platform in order to “transform” it.
“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 Musk in a statement announcing the deal.
The company’s new leader is not yet known. Currently, Twitter is led by Parag Agrawal, who took over from former boss and co-founder Jack Dorsey last November.
While the company has made progress on new monetization features, such as subscription products, it seems that the platform will be taken to a new level by Musk’s involvement.
“I know this is a significant change and you’re likely processing what this means for you and Twitter’s future,” Agrawal wrote in an email to employees soon after Musk announced the acceptance of his bid for Twitter.
Under the terms, the company will become a privately owned company upon the completion of the transaction.
