Twitter board agrees to $44bn takeover by Elon Musk

The board of Twitter has agreed to an $44bn (£34.5bn) takeover offer from the billionaire Elon Musk.

Mr Musk, who made the shock bid less than two weeks ago, has claimed he is the right person to “unlock” the social media firm’s “extraordinary potential”.

He called for a series of changes from relaxing its content restrictions to eradicating fake accounts.

Twitter in takeover talks with Elon Musk

Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for $43.4bn  

The firm initially rebuffed Mr Musk’s bid, but it will now ask shareholders to vote to approve the deal.

Mr Musk is the world’s richest man, according to Forbes magazine, with an estimated net worth of $273.6bn mostly due to his shareholding in electric vehicle maker Tesla which he runs. 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,” he said in a statement announcing the deal.

“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,” he added.

“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 it had conducted a “comprehensive process” to assess Mr 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,” he said. (BBC)