Hours after Elon Musk proposed to buy Twitter Inc, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who is a shareholder of the micro-blogging site through his firm Kingdom Holding Company, rejected Space X and Tesla’s CEO offer to acquire the company.
The Space X and Tesla CEO offered to buy Twitter 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 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.
According to the tweet, Kingdom Holding Company currently owns a 5.2 per cent stake in Twitter.
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.
Even before Musk proposed to buy the microblogging site, the Tesla CEO has often targeted the microblogging platform for free speech. He even put out a tweet asking users if they believe Twitter adheres to the principle of free speech. Musk in a TEDx conference on late Thursday said, "The civilizational risk is decreased the more we can increase the trust of Twitter as a public platform."
He also pointed out that he is not trying to monopolize his stake in Twitter. "The intent is to retain as many shareholders as allowed by the law," he said.
Earlier this week, Musk, who currently has a 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter, rejected the offer to be part of the company’s board. Musk is the second-largest shareholder of the company, owning 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.
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.
