Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk agreed to buy Twitter Inc. for $44 billion (?5.61 trillion), using one of the biggest leveraged buyout deals in history to take private a 16-year-old social networking platform that has become a hub of public discourse and a flash point in the debate over online free speech.
Investors will receive $54.20 for each Twitter share they own, the company said in a statement Monday. The price is 38% more than the stock¡¯s close on April 1, the last business day before Musk disclosed a significant stake in the company, sparking a share rally.
Musk, one of Twitter¡¯s most-watched users with more than 83 million followers, began amassing a stake of about 9% in January. By March, he had ramped up his criticism of Twitter, alleging that the company¡¯s algorithms are biased and feeds cluttered with automated junk posts. He also suggested Twitter¡¯s user growth was inflated by bots. After rejecting an invitation to join the company¡¯s board, on April 14 he offered to take Twitter private, saying he¡¯d make the platform a bastion of free speech and dropping other hints about the changes he¡¯d make as owner.
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