Microblogging social media platform Twitter, is now the private property of the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
The board of Twitter initially dragged her foot on selling to Musk, but all of that is now history.
The board has now agreed to a $44bn (£34.5bn) takeover offer from the billionaire.
Musk first made the shock bid two weeks ago, promising to bring “free speech” back to the platform.
Board members and shareholders initially rebuffed the billionaire and rejected his offer.
But there’s been a breakthrough for Musk now as shareholders have been asked to vote for an approval of the bid.
Musk, whose net worth is estimated at $273.6bn–mostly due to his shareholding in electric vehicle maker Tesla–has promised to unlock Twitter’s potential.
He also leads the aerospace firm SpaceX.
“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,” Musk said in a statement announcing the deal.
He adds that; “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 shareholders had conducted a “comprehensive process” to assess Musk’s proposals for the firm.
“The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders,” Taylor adds.
Join the Conversation