The social media company Twitter has agreed to the offer of 44 billion dollars (converted 41 billion euros) from tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Musk pays $54.20 per share. “Freedom of expression is of great importance in a functioning democracy,” said the entrepreneur. Musk sees Twitter as a digital city square, where “vital matters pertaining to the future of humanity” are discussed.
That’s one reason Musk is putting down this massive amount. In addition, the Tesla CEO wants to improve the platform by releasing new functions, making the algorithms open source, giving everyone a blue check mark (which checks their identity) and combating spam bots.
Twitter in the hands of Elon Musk
The new CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal, says he is happy with this move. After all, Twitter has a purpose and relevance with which it makes an impact on the world.
Elon Musk is investing $21 billion of his own money. He will pay the remaining amount through a loan of USD 25.5 billion, with Tesla shares as collateral.
Analysts believe the loan will cost the company $1 billion annually if not repaid quickly. That’s about twenty percent of Twitter’s annual revenue.