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Elon Musk launches hostile takeover bid for Twitter
Tesla chief Elon Musk has launched a hostile takeover bid for Twitter, insisting he was the only person capable of unlocking the full potential of the platform.
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Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during a press conference at SpaceX's Starbase facility near Boca Chica Village, South Texas, the US on Feb. 10. (AFP/Jim Watson)
T
esla chief Elon Musk has launched a hostile takeover bid for Twitter, insisting it was a "best and final offer" and that he was the only person capable of unlocking the full potential of the platform.
The move throws another curve into a roller-coaster ride for Musk's volatile relationship with the global social media service, and raises many questions about what comes next.
"Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it," Musk wrote in a filing to US regulators made public Thursday, adding the site has the possibility to be "the platform for free speech around the globe."
"The company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company," he added.
The world's richest person offered $54.20 a share, which values the social media firm at some $43 billion, in a filing dated Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Twitter's board said it would carefully review what it termed Musk's "unsolicited, non-binding" offer and decide on a course of action that was "in the best interest of the company and all Twitter stockholders."
Musk last week disclosed a purchase of 73.5 million shares -- or 9.2 percent -- of Twitter's common stock, an announcement that sent Twitter shares soaring more than 25 percent.
