DALLAS — Twitter Inc. said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, currently the company’s biggest shareholder, has proposed buying the remaining shares of Twitter that he doesn’t already own at $54.20 per share, an offer worth more than $43 billion.
News of the proposal caused a stir on social media, including from Dallas billionaire Mark Cuban, owner of the Mavericks. He says Musk has opened the door for big tech competitors to snap up influence at — or even buy — Twitter.
Cuban responded to the Musk news Thursday on Twitter, saying, "Every major tech company, Google, fb, et al is on the phone with their anti trust lawyers asking if they can buy Twitter and get it approved. And Twitter is on the phone with their lawyers asking which can be their white knight. Gonna be interesting."
"Elon may have started this, but his threat to sell his shares, if twitter says no, opened the door for those tech giants to walk in for relatively 'little' money and grab huge influence at Twitter or possibly a direct path to acquisition," Cuban continued. "Elon will smile all the way to the bank."
Musk called that price his best and final offer, although he provided no details on financing. The offer is non-binding and subject to financing and other conditions.
“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk said in the filing. “However, 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.”
Twitter said it has received Musk's offer and will decide whether it is in the best interests of shareholders to accept or continue to operate as a publicly traded company.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.