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Elon Musk on Thursday said that he has a “Plan B” ready if the board of directors of the microblogging app rejected his purchase bid while speaking at TED 2022.
IMAGE: AP/Unsplash
Shortly after making a $43 billion purchase bid to buy Twitter, Elon Musk on Thursday said that he has a “Plan B” ready if the board of directors of the microblogging app rejects his offer. Speaking at the TED 2022 conference in Vancouver the billionaire CEO of Tesla stated that he has “sufficient assets” and can “technically afford it” to acquire Twitter. Musk’s remarks came in response to TED’s head curator Chris Anderson, who asked if there was a contingency plan because the tech giant was not ready to go above the bid price for Twitter.
“There is…” Musk responded flatly after a long pause, without agreeing to delve into further details. When Anderson requested Musk to shed light on the potential “Plan B”, the SpaceX chief replied “another time.”
Musk asserted that buying Twitter is “not a way to make money” but to contribute to the “arena for free speech.” The tech giant also revealed that if acquired, he wants to open source Twitter algorithm and argued that the company must be “very cautious” to impose permanent bans and “reluctant” to delete posts. This came after Musk, in a letter to Twitter’s board, said that his valuation for the company was the “best and final” he could offer after he refused to join the Board of Directors of Twitter. “I am not playing a back-and-forth game… I have moved straight to the end,” he said.
Currently, Musk is the single-largest shareholder of the social media company with 9.2% stock valued at $3.3 billion. To complete his own deal, Musk would need an additional $40 billion in cash, which he hoped to bring along as many existing shareholders are allowable under the law. Musk has offered to pay $54.20 per share in cash which is a 54% premium on the closing price on January 28 and a 38% premium on the closing price on April 1. As per Bloomberg estimates, Musk currently has cash accounts worth $2.95 billion.
Musk ‘can’t change the culture’: Twitter CEO
Following intrinsic remarks about the changes Musk wants to bring if he bought the company, Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal on Thursday stated that the billionaire entrepreneur “cannot change” the strong culture of the company, which is aimed at protecting users, Wall Street Journal reported. The Twitter CEO emphasised that diversity is the company’s core identity referring to the lawsuit filed against Musk by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing for alleged racial discrimination at Tesla. Agarwal, however, refused to share details about Musk’s purchase offer and said that the board was considering the proposal.
(Image: AP/Unsplash)
Last Updated: 15th April, 2022 07:43 IST Elon Musk on Thursday said that he has a “Plan B” ready if the board of directors of the microblogging app rejected his purchase bid while speaking at TED 2022. IMAGE: AP/Unsplash Shortly after making a $43 billion purchase bid to buy Twitter, Elon Musk on Thursday said that he has a “Plan B” ready if the board of directors of the microblogging app rejects his offer. Speaking at the TED 2022 conference in Vancouver the billionaire CEO of Tesla stated that he has “sufficient assets” and can “technically afford it” to acquire Twitter. Musk’s remarks came in response to TED’s head curator Chris Anderson, who asked if there was a contingency plan because the tech giant was not ready to go above the bid price for Twitter. “There is…” Musk responded flatly after a long pause, without agreeing to delve into further details. When Anderson requested Musk to shed light on the potential “Plan B”, the SpaceX chief replied “another time.” Musk asserted that buying Twitter is “not a way to make money” but to contribute to the “arena for free speech.” The tech giant also revealed that if acquired, he wants to open source Twitter algorithm and argued that the company must be “very cautious” to impose permanent bans and “reluctant” to delete posts. This came after Musk, in a letter to Twitter’s board, said that his valuation for the company was the “best and final” he could offer after he refused to join the Board of Directors of Twitter. “I am not playing a back-and-forth game… I have moved straight to the end,” he said. Currently, Musk is the single-largest shareholder of the social media company with 9.2% stock valued at $3.3 billion. To complete his own deal, Musk would need an additional $40 billion in cash, which he hoped to bring along as many existing shareholders are allowable under the law. Musk has offered to pay $54.20 per share in cash which is a 54% premium on the closing price on January 28 and a 38% premium on the closing price on April 1. As per Bloomberg estimates, Musk currently has cash accounts worth $2.95 billion. Musk ‘can’t change the culture’: Twitter CEO Following intrinsic remarks about the changes Musk wants to bring if he bought the company, Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal on Thursday stated that the billionaire entrepreneur “cannot change” the strong culture of the company, which is aimed at protecting users, Wall Street Journal reported. The Twitter CEO emphasised that diversity is the company’s core identity referring to the lawsuit filed against Musk by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing for alleged racial discrimination at Tesla. Agarwal, however, refused to share details about Musk’s purchase offer and said that the board was considering the proposal. (Image: AP/Unsplash)