日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
World
Home / World / Europe

Musk closes $44b deal to buy Twitter

With board backing offer, speculation shifts to tech titan's plans for platform

By WILLIAM HENNELLY in New York | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2022-04-27 07:09
Share
Share - WeChat
This file photograph taken on November 5, 2016, shows the Twitter logo is seen on a sign at the company's headquarters in San Francisco, California. [Photo/Agencies].

Elon Musk waded through legal and "poison pill" threats and employee angst before Twitter's board of directors on Monday approved his offer to buy the iconic social media platform.

The world's richest person and chief executive of electric-vehicle company Tesla clinched a deal to acquire the company for $44 billion in cash. He said he will take the company private; its shares currently trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

The transaction was unanimously approved by Twitter's board and is subject to a shareholder vote. Discussions about the deal, which last week appeared uncertain, accelerated over the weekend after Musk wooed Twitter shareholders with details of his offer.

Under pressure, Twitter started negotiating with Musk, 50, to buy the company at his $54.20-a-share offer, which was made on April 13.

The deal represents a 37 percent premium to Twitter's closing share price on April 1. On April 4, when the stock market reopened, Musk disclosed that he had bought a stake of more than 9 percent.

Twitter's shares have traded as high as $77 in the past year; they closed on Monday at $51.70, up $2.77 or 5.7 percent.

"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," the South Africa-born Musk, who has 83.6 million Twitter followers, said in a joint statement with Twitter.

"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."

Musk also previously had polled Twitter users about adding an edit button for their tweets.

Later on Monday on Twitter, Musk, who has described himself as a "free speech absolutist", wrote: "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means."

The San Francisco-based company, founded in 2006, said Musk secured $25.5 billion of debt and margin-loan financing and is providing a $21 billion equity commitment.

Twitter's relevance as a mouthpiece for politicians, political dissidents and activists belies its relatively small size.

After Twitter banned former US president Donald Trump over concerns around alleged incitement of violence following last year's US Capitol infiltration by his supporters, Musk tweeted: "A lot of people are going to be super unhappy with West Coast high tech as the de facto arbiter of free speech."

Republicans on Monday cheered the deal while Democrats struck an apprehensive tone.

"Hey, @elonmusk it's a great week to free@realDonaldTrump," the House Republican Conference, which represents 209 lawmakers, said in a tweet referencing Trump's former Twitter user name.

But Trump, whose company is building a rival to Twitter called Truth Social, said he will not return to Twitter.

"I am not going on Twitter. I am going to stay on Truth," Trump told Fox News.

US Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, a member of the Freedom Caucus of conservative House Republicans, said he hoped the deal would go through.

"I think this deal looks like it's good for the shareholders; second, it's good for free speech, it's good for the First Amendment," Jordan said in an interview with Fox News.

'Dangerous' for democracy

US Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, tweeted: "This deal is dangerous for our democracy. Billionaires like Elon Musk play by a different set of rules than everyone else, accumulating power for their own gain. We need a wealth tax and strong rules to hold Big Tech accountable."

Former US labor secretary Robert Reich tweeted: "When billionaires like Elon Musk justify their motives by using 'freedom', beware. What they actually seek is freedom from accountability."

Speaking with reporters on Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said: "No matter who owns or runs Twitter, the president has long been concerned about the power of large social media platforms, the power they have over our everyday lives."

Agencies contributed to this story.

 

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 国产精品毛片久久久久久久 | 一级在线免费视频 | 欧美激情bbbbbxxxxⅹ | 日本午夜视频 | 日本高清不卡在线 | 草久在线视频 | 欧美成人影院在线观看三级 | 日日a.v拍夜夜添久久免费 | 男女性刺激爽爽免费视频 | 欧美亚洲第一页 | 中文字幕在线精品 | 国产精品久久久久免费 | 国产伦理久久精品久久久久 | 无码免费人妻A片AAA毛 | 男女搞逼视频 | 日韩有码在线观看 | 日韩在线免费视频 | 国产亚洲精品久久久极品美女 | 国产麻豆剧传媒精品网站 | 91精品国产91久久久久久吃药 | 亚洲欧美日韩精品久久亚洲区 | 欧美区一区二区三 | 色偷偷网 | 天堂资源 | 欧美一级高潮片免费的 | 激情在线网 | 中国女警察一级毛片视频 | 成人欧美一区二区三区在线播放 | 欧美激情一区二区三级高清视频 | 亚洲欧美精品综合中文字幕 | 999热在线精品观看全部 | 国产福利在线观看精品 | 国产福利视频一区二区 | 国产婷婷综合 | 欧美在线观看一区 | 性强烈欧美一级毛片 | 国产日本欧美在线观看 | 亚洲国产日韩欧美高清片a 高清视频在线播放 | 亚洲乱人伦在线 | a视频在线 | 日韩免费视频一区二区 |