On Wednesday, Musk offered to personally acquire the company in a $43 billion deal. The terms of the proposal were laid out in a letter by Musk to Taylor.
The offer was confirmed in a Thursday morning press release by the company.
Since January, Musk has been accumulating shares in the micro-messaging service. He revealed last week that he had accumulated 9.2 percent of the outstanding shares of the company.
Musk was offered a seat on the board of the company in exchange for not acquiring a majority stake. Musk preserved his option to buy more stock by turning down the offer.
Musk believes that free speech is a societal imperative.
AdvertisementIn the same letter, Musk wrote that he wants to transform the company into a private one.
Musk does not have confidence in the current leadership. He may sell off his 9.2 percent stake if his offer is not accepted.
In recent days, Musk has been talking about possible changes to the micro-messaging service. He asked followers if they wanted an edit button. 73 percent said yes, since Musk appears to have deliberately spelled the word wrong.
As the sole owner of the company, Musk would have the ability to make changes to the approach to moderation that would allow a lot of material that runs afoul of the current rules. Musk would be under pressure from Republicans to restore Donald Trump's account.
Musk is offering a 19 percent premium over the closing price. On January 28, when Musk started buying shares, the share price was 54 percent higher than it is today.
According to Forbes, Musk has a net worth of around $270 billion. The SEC filing states that the deal is contingent on the completion of anticipated financing, and that he could borrow against his shares in both companies to finance the deal.
Tim Lee worked at Ars for three years. Full Stack Economics is an email newsletter about the economy, technology, and public policy. You can subscribe to his newsletter here.
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