On Thursday, Space X and Tesla CEO Elon Musk proposed to buy microblogging site Twitter Inc, worth $41.39 billion. He has offered $54.20 per share, at a 38 per cent premium to the closing price of Twitter’s stock on April 1, the last trading day before Musk bought the majority stake in the company.
In a letter to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor Musk said, “Since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company."
“My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder," he added.
Hours later, Musk said, “The intent is to retain as many shareholders as allowed by the law for a private company, which I think is around 2,000 or so. We’ll try to bring along as many shareholders as we’re allowed to.”
According to Bloomberg, in the USA, if the shareholders are not accredited investors in the private company, the number of shareholders can drop from 2,000 to 500.
Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who holds a 5.2 per cent stake in the micro-blogging site through his firm Kingdom Holding Company, rejected Musk’s offer to acquire Twitter.
In a tweet, Prince Alwaleed said, “I don’t believe that the proposed offer by @elon musk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of @Twitter given its growth prospects.”
“Being one of the largest and long-term shareholders of Twitter, @Kingdom_KHC and I reject this offer,” he added.
Following this, Musk retweeted his tweet with two questions. “Interesting. Just two questions, if I may. How much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly or indirectly? What are the Kingdom’s views on journalistic freedom of speech?,” Musk's tweet said.
The president and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, said that the cash offer is very low, in order to buy Twitter. As per the regulatory filing with US Securities and Exchange Commission, Gerber holds over 9,000 shares in the company.
He said in a tweet, “ I think any way this shakes out for Elon. It proves that twitter has lots of potential upside in improving their business. No dount management change is necessary. But Elon should have created a vehicle for public shareholders too. The cash offer is very low.”
“Elon will have to come up with $69 a share cash and he wins twitter,” he added.
Managing Director of Boyar Value Group, Jonathan Boyar, holds over 38,000 shares in the microblogging site. In an interview with Bloomberg, he said, “We have no idea what his true intentions for Twitter really are. Regardless, his interest in the company reinforces our view on the value of the platform and user base, and how it has been mismanaged for years.”
“With no controlling shareholder and major activist investors as shareholders, if the company does not execute, Twitter’s days as an independent company are probably numbered,” he added.
Vanguard Holdings, a Pennysylvania-based investment company became the largest shareholder of Twitter after acquiring a 10.3 per cent stake in the company, according to a regulatory filing. The company now owns 82.4 million shares of Twitter.
Musk is the second-largest shareholder of the social media platform having a stake of 9.2 per cent in the company. Musk currently owns 73.5 million shares of common stock in his personal capacity. Musk's stake in Twitter is considered a passive investment, which means Musk is a long-term investor that's looking to minimize his buying and selling of the shares.
