Elon Musk has completed his $44 billion U.S. acquisition of social media platform Twitter
(TWTR), ending months of public and legal battles over the deal.
Musk is paying the originally agreed upon price of $54.20 U.S. per share for Twitter and plans to
take the company private.
The acquisition’s completion ends six months of acrimony and uncertainty that began this past
January when Musk, the worlds richest person with an estimated net worth of about $250 billion
U.S., took a big stake in Twitter and then offered to buy the company outright.
In July, Musk canceled the deal, citing concerns about spam, bots, and fake accounts on the
social media site. Twitter subsequently sued Musk in court for backing out of the deal.
On October 4, Musk agreed to proceed with the Twitter purchase once again under the
originally proposed terms. A Delaware Chancery Court judge gave the two sides until October
28 to conclude the deal.
Musk, who is also the chief executive officer of both Tesla (TSLA) and privately held SpaceX,
now also controls Twitter, a service he uses but frequently criticizes. Musk has said repeatedly
that he plans to make major changes at Twitter.
Most of the senior executives at Twitter have left the company in recent months, including its
CEO, head of legal, and chief financial officer. There have been media reports that Musk plans
to cut 75% of Twitter’s current workforce of about 7,500 people.
Twitter stock had been up 26% at $53.70 U.S. per share prior to Musk’s purchase being
finalized.
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