Elon Musk’s Twitter bid updates: What is 'poison pill' and what is it supposed to do?

A crucial issue is how Musk's ownership of Twitter, and private control of social media platforms generally, affect the broader public well-being. In a series of deleted tweets, Musk made several suggestions about how to change Twitter, including adding an edit button for tweets and granting automatic verification marks to premium users.  

There is no experimental evidence about how an edit button would change information transmission on Twitter. However, it's possible to extrapolate from previous research that analysed deleted tweets.

There are numerous ways to retrieve deleted tweets, which allows researchers to study them. While some studies show significant personality differences between users who delete their tweets and those who don't, these findings suggest that deleting tweets is a way for people to manage their online identities.

Analysing deleting behaviour can also yield valuable clues about online credibility and disinformation. Similarly, if Twitter adds an edit button, analyzing the patterns of editing behaviour could provide insights into Twitter users' motivations and how they present themselves.

Studies of bot-generated activity on Twitter have concluded that nearly half of accounts tweeting about COVID-19 are likely bots. 

Given partisanship and political polarisation in online spaces, allowing users whether they are automated bots or actual people  the option to edit their tweets could become another weapon in the disinformation arsenal used by bots and propagandists. Editing tweets could allow users to selectively distort what they said, or deny making inflammatory remarks, which could complicate efforts to trace misinformation.

Space X's Starlink internet constellation has angered Russia as it was reported that the Starlink satellite constellation was used to guide and modify fire on the Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the cruiser Moskva and it sank because of that. This was revealed by new data from the Russian Federation's General Staff. Dmitry Medvedev, who has ordered to destroy the Starlink satellite constellation located over Russian Federation territory, the special military operation zone and the Black Sea basin in order to ensure the security of all units participating in the special military operation.

He further stated that Russia has no intentions to militarize outer space but it will also not allow others to do so suggesting that it will take action against whoever tries to militarize outer space. During the examination into the causes of the loss of the Black Sea fleet's flagship, Dmitry Medvedev said that Osipov I.V., Commander of the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet, would be removed, according to the State Duma.

The ingredients of each poison pill vary, but they're all designed to give corporate boards an option to flood the market with so much newly created stock that a takeover becomes prohibitively expensive. The strategy was popularized back in the 1980s when publicly held companies were being stalked by corporate raiders such as Carl Icahn — now more frequently described as “activist investors."

Twitter didn't disclose the details of its poison pill Friday, but said it would provide more information in a forthcoming filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which the company delayed because public markets were closed Friday.

The San Francisco company's plan will be triggered if a shareholder accumulates a stake of 15% or more. Musk, best known as CEO of electric car maker Tesla, currently holds a roughly 9% stake. 

Responded to Elon Musk’s offer to buy the whole company, Twitter said in the release, “Twitter, Inc today confirmed it has received an unsolicited, non-binding proposal from Elon Musk to acquire all of the Company’s outstanding common stock for $54.20 per share in cash'.

“The Twitter Board of Directors will carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company and all Twitter stockholders", it further said. 

The situation surrounding Twitter's potential takeover by Tesla CEO Elon Musk seems to get more and more complicated by the day as his proposal to buy the company and take it private has been rejected unanimously by the board of directors, who have adopted a 'poison pill' defence.

Considering Twitter's complicated situation at the moment, former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) RAW manager Eric Bishoff has taken to his official social media handle and raised a pertinent question. Bishoff is keen on understanding if the Twitter board as trustees reject the tech mogul's offer, will the shareholders of the company have 'legal recourse.'

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Elon Musk is talking to investors to potentially partner concerning his $43bn attempts to buy Twitter, according to a report.

Musk could team up with Silver Lake Partners, a global private equity firm that invests in tech and which was a potential investor when he considered taking Tesla private in 2018, a source told Independent Newspaper. 

Elon Musk said in now-deleted tweet that everyone who signs up for Twitter Blue a premium service that costs $3/month should be able to get an authentication checkmark in a proposed change. They should be able to pay for premium service with Shiba Inu meme crypto Dogecoin worth $0.16.

Twitter had said on Friday that its Board of Directors has unanimously adopted a “poison pill” in response to the Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s proposal to buy the 100% shares in the firm and hold it privately. The move is being labelled as a “limited duration shareholder rights plan.” It aims to make investors “realise the full value of their investment” and also restrict any other entity or a business from gaining control of the firm as it mandates them to pay the shareholders a "premium." Twitter will implement the plan in case Musk’s stakes in Twitter skyrocket above 9% to 15%. 

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Jacob Walker, one of the lawyers that filed the lawsuit against Musk after he tabled proposal to buy Twitter said that he hadn’t reached out to the Securities and Exchange Commission about Musk’s alleged violations about the disclosure of his Twitter stake.

“I assume the SEC is well aware of what he [Elon Musk] did,” Walker said.

SEC and Musk have been wrangling in court since 2018 when Musk and Tesla agreed to pay a $40 million fine t o settle allegations that he used his Twitter account to mislead investors about a potential buyout of the electric car company that never materialized. As part of that deal, Musk was supposed to obtain legal approval for his tweets about information that could affect Tesla’s stock price — a provision that regulators contend he has occasionally violated and that he now argues unfairly muzzles him.

Source: Associated Press

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that he intends to make Twitter "more transparent" during TED 2022. “In my view, Twitter should match the laws of the country, and really there is an obligation to do that. Going beyond that, and having it be unclear who’s making what changes to where, having tweets mysteriously be promoted and demoted with no insight into what's going on, having a black box algorithm promote some things and not other things, I think this can be quite dangerous," said Musk. 

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has labelled Twitter as "the de facto town square" adding that it is "really important that people have the reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the bounds of the law.” Musk who outlined his reasons of buying Twitter during TED 2022 said that it is important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech. "It is important that people have a perception so that they can speak freely within the bounds of the law," Musk iterated. 

Tech billionaire Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and a star of TV’s Shark Tank, fired a barrage of multi-hour tweets sharing his opinions on Tesla CEO Elon Musk's latest offer to purchase the 100% shares of the microblogging platform company Twitter. "Every major tech company including Google and Facebook is on the phone with their antitrust lawyers asking if they could buy Twitter and get it approved," Cuban said, in a sarcastic dig at the SpaceX boss. “And Twitter is on the phone with their lawyers asking which can be their white knight,” Cuban continued. “Gonna be interesting..” 

Cuban also published rants at length about how the "filthy-rich foreign investors" may also be interested in the global and cultural cache of Twitter. He then reminded that Twitter “will do everything possible not to sell the company." 

"They [Twitter] will try to get a friendly investor they prefer to come in and buy Elon's shares and get him out," said the tech billionaire. 

Reports suggest that a private equity firm Thoma Bravo has also been trying to buy the social media platform Twitter and has recently reached out to the board of directors about a possible acquisition. The firm which has more than $103 billion in assets  in microblogging p,platform company since 2021 is rivalling Tesla CEO Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has clarified that the offer he made to buy Twitter for about $43 billion is calculated at 54% premium over the day he began investing in Twitter back in January, 2022. Thursday's offer is Elon Musk's “best and final offer" according to regulatory filing on April 4. 

After Musk announced his stake, Twitter offered him a seat on its board on the condition that he would limit his purchases to no more than 14.9% of the company’s outstanding stock. But just five days later, Tesla CEO Elon Musk declined the offer. According to Daniel Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities who spoke to Associated Press, Twitter's latest poison pill path "is a predictable defensive maneuver but could be seen as a 'sign of weakness' on Wall Street." 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has compared Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg with "Sun King" for exercising too much control on platforms. Musk addressed Facebook's boss as  'Zuckerberg the 14th'  in reference to Louis XIV aka Sun King during a speech at TED 2022 in Vancouver. 

"You've got Mark Zuckerberg owning Facebook and Instagram and WhatsApp, and with a share ownership structure that will have Mark Zuckerberg the 14th still controlling those entities. Like, literally. We won't have that at Twitter," Musk mocked Zuckerberg.

During an onstage interview at a TED event SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk laid out the vision of the microblogging platform Twitter. “Having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization," said the Tesla boss. He has also revealed in regulatory filings that he had been buying Twitter shares in almost daily batches starting Jan. 31, and only recently ended up with a stake of about 9%.

The Vanguard Group, however, now controls more Twitter shares. A lawsuit filed in New York federal court alleges that Musk illegally had been holding back on disclosure of his stake in Twitter so that he could quickly buy more shares at lower prices.

Analysts on Friday have stated that microblogging platform Twitter is "gearing up for a battle here with Musk" after he made a proposal for a buy out of 100%stakes in the firm in a sign of a potential takeover. While the company discourages his takeover attempts and has implemented a 'poison pill' plan,  Musk could still take over the company by waging a “proxy fight” in which shareholders vote to retain or dismiss the company’s current director, Daniel Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities told Associated Press. “They also have to give themselves time to try to find another potential buyer," he added.

Twitter has also clarified that its plan doesn’t prevent the board from engaging with parties or accepting an acquisition proposal if it’s in the company’s best interests. 

Twitter had said on Friday that its Board of Directors has unanimously adopted a “poison pill” in response to the Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s proposal to buy the 100% shares in the firm and hold it privately. The move is being labelled as a “limited duration shareholder rights plan.” It aims to make investors “realise the full value of their investment” and also restrict any other entity or a business from gaining control of the firm as it mandates them to pay the shareholders a "premium." Twitter will implement the plan in case Musk’s stakes in Twitter skyrocket above 9% to 15%. Plan 'doesn’t prevent the Board from engaging with parties or accepting an acquisition proposal if it’s in the company’s best interests

In the securities filing on Thursday, SpaceX boss Musk offered to buy the company for $43 billion. Musk's Twitter stock purchase took a whole new twist with the filing of a lawsuit charging him with breaches of compliance; it maintained that he purposefully and illegally delayed the process to disclose his stake in the social media giant so that he could buy more shares at a lower rate. Musk has utilised nearly USD 2.6 billion on Twitter stock which is the largest individual fortune in the world. The micro-blogging platform Twitter had also earlier said that it is evaluating tech billionaire Elon Musk's $43 billion offer. 

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Elon Musk says that he wants to buy Twitter outright taking it privately to restore its commitment to what he terms “free speech.” But his offer, which seemed to fall flat with investors, raises as many questions as it answers. Among them: Is he serious? Can he get the money together? Would a sale make shareholders happy? And what would the social platform look like if he succeeds?

Elon Musk says that Twitter isn’t living up to its potential as a “platform for free speech.” Musk insists that he’s not interested in making money off Twitter but that his motivation sprang from the realization that “having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization.” Musk has described himself as a “free speech absolutist” —although he has also blocked Twitter users who question or disagree with him. 

Source: Associated Press

Photo Credit: Associated Press

The situation surrounding Twitter's potential takeover by Tesla CEO Elon Musk seems to get more and more complicated by the day as his proposal to buy the company and take it private has been rejected unanimously by the board of directors, who have adopted a 'poison pill' defence.

Considering Twitter's complicated situation at the moment, former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) RAW manager Eric Bishoff has taken to his official social media handle and raised a pertinent question. Bishoff is keen on understanding if the Twitter board as trustees rejects the tech mogul's offer, will the shareholders of the company have 'legal recourse.'

Musk, who is currently the second-highest shareholder of Twitter with a 9.1% stake, is keen on taking the company private by purchasing the shares at $54.20. However, the Twitter board has rejected such an offer as they believe that Musk needs to pay the shareholders a premium or give the board more time. Their poison pill counter-strategy is aimed to defend against 'hostile takeovers.'

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Responding to Elon Musk's unsolicited and non-binding proposal of a $43 billion buyout, Twitter announced on Friday that it is implementing the “shareholder rights plan”. "The Rights Plan is intended to enable all shareholders to realize the full value of their investment in Twitter. The Rights Plan will reduce the likelihood that any entity, person or group gains control of Twitter through open market accumulation without paying all shareholders an appropriate control premium or without providing the Board sufficient time to make informed judgments and take actions that are in the best interests of shareholders", Twitter said in an official release.

Also called the "poison pill" tactic, it allows existing shareholders the right to purchase more stock if an outsider attempts to takeover. Twitter revealed that this right would be exercised "if an entity, person or group acquires beneficial ownership of 15% or more of Twitter's outstanding common stock".

Musk is the world’s wealthiest man, according to Forbes, with a nearly $265 billion fortune. But much of his money is tied up in Tesla stock — he owns about 17% of the company, according to FactSet, which is valued at more than $1 trillion — and SpaceX, his privately held space company. It’s unclear how much cash Musk has, the Associated Press analysis says. 

As the line between free speech and hate speech and misinformation has become increasingly muddied on the platform, analysts are warning that any attempts to "change" Twitter could easily lead to these issues "spiraling out of control.” Social-media companies have been struggling to contain misinformation and hate speech, and Musk, whose tweets can lead online bullies to swarm his critics online, does not seem keen on content moderation, analysts say. 

After offering to buy Twitter for $40bn, Elon Musk gave a TED Talk interview and called for more transparency in Twitter’s algorithm. Musk said that he believes improving public trust in the site is “extremely important to the future of civilisation”.

"If the current Twitter board takes actions contrary to shareholder interests, they would be breaching their fiduciary duty. The liability they would thereby assume would be titanic in scale", Elon Musk tweeted in response to the idea of a 'poison pill' strategy. 

Musk was replying to Bitcoin investor Cameron Winklevoss who tweeted that the micro-blogging site would "rather self-immolate than give up their censorship programs".

Netizens demanding the reinstatement of former US President Donald Trump is growing. Many are suggesting the the outspoken 45th President should be given a chance to get back to the site. Trump was banned from Twitter after his supporters attacked the Captiol Hill following the former's loss at Presidential elections last year.

According to a New York Times report, Twitter might use the 'poison pill' tactic to avoid Elon Musk's acquisition of the micro-blogging site. The report suggests that Twitter can activate its shareholder's rights plan wherein the shareholders can buy additional shares at discounts. According to this strategy, this tactic dilutes the stake of an acquirer as a surplus of shares is created in the market. This finally leads to the creation of a 'pill' that makes an acquisition financially cumbersome.

The news about Elon Musk buying Twitter has split the micro-blogging site into two factions- one supporting the Tesla CEO's bid, and the other opposing it. A vast number of users are backing Musk projecting him as the saviour of free speech whereas some are just furious about another billionaire making a rich move. 

Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed bin Talal expressed his concern while rejecting the idea of Elon Musk buying out Twitter. In a tweet posted on April 15, Talal wrote, "I don’t believe that the proposed offer by @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of Twitter given its growth prospects. Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, @Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer (sic)".

In retaliation, Musk raised two questions before the Prince asking the freedom of speech in Saudi. "Interesting. Just two questions, if I may. How much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly & indirectly? What are the Kingdom's views on journalistic freedom of speech?", Musk asked.

According to a recent SEC filing, Vanguard Group has taken over Elon Musk as the largest shareholder of Twitter. The company now owns a 10.3% stake as compared to Musk's 9.2% stake. Earlier, Vanguard Group was the second biggest shareholder of the company with 8.39% stake worth over $2.5 billion. 

While admitting the he won't be able to acquire Twitter, Musk had said that he has a 'Plan B' ready in case things don't work his way. 

The share price of Twitter closed at $45.08, which is a 1.68% drop from its value on April 14. A day before, the micro-blogging site's closed at $45.85. On the same day, Elon Musk had offered to pay $54.20 per share for Twitter, amounting to a total of $43 billion. Currently, Twitter has a total market capitalisation of approximately $37 billion.

Twitterattis are on the edge of their seat and are flooding Twitter with Elon Musk memes after the billionaire made a $43 billion offer to buy the site. Musk has again polarised the site as many are offering their support to the tech mogul while many are criticising his latest move. Take a look at some of the memes. 

One of Twitter's largest shareholders, Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed bin Talal, on Thursday, rejected SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $41 billion cash bid for a potential takeover of Twitter Inc. “I don’t believe that the proposed offer by @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of Twitter given its growth prospects,” the prince tweeted, making Musk question the Prince’s opinion on the subject of freedom of speech. “Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, @Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer,” Al Waleed bin Talal said. 

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has again floated an opinion poll on Twitter,saying that the organisation's shareholders should decide on his "best and final" offer to acquire 100% of the microblogging site with $54.20 per share in cash. Musk, who often promotes cryptocurrencies through the social media giant, has employed a corporate raider-style game plan to put the decision of acquisition on all company shareholders. Notably, in business, a corporate raid is the process of buying a large stake in a corporation. The large share purchase gives the corporate raider significant voting rights in the company. The investor then utilises the opportunity to undertake measures designed to increase the share value. Usually, the measures floated by the major investor are opposite to the desires and practices of the corporation's current management.  

After offering to buy Twitter for $40bn, Elon Musk gave a TED Talk interview and called for more transparency in Twitter’s algorithm.

Musk said that he believes improving public trust in the site is “extremely important to the future of civilisation”.

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."

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Ohio Republican Congressman Jim Jordan in an interview with Fox Business shared his thoughts on Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s huge offer to buy Twitter and take the company private.

“I think this is tremendous. And finally, some pushback because for so long, the Left says, if you don’t agree with me, you’re not even allowed to speak. And if you try, we’re going to call you a racist and we’re going to cancel you", he said. 

US Rep. Lauren Boebert tweeted, “Elon Musk’s fight for free speech is patriotic and necessary. He deserves the Medal of Freedom".

As the line between free speech and hate speech and misinformation has become increasingly muddied on the platform, analysts are warning that any attempts to "change" Twitter could easily lead to these issues "spiraling out of control.” Social-media companies have been struggling to contain misinformation and hate speech, and Musk, whose tweets can lead online bullies to swarm his critics online, does not seem keen on content moderation, analysts say. 

“Regulators worldwide will be wincing at the potential free speech implications should Musk’s takeover bid succeed,” said GlobalData analyst Rachel Foster-Jones. “Musk is clearly serious about promoting free speech for the benefit of democracy, but the line between free speech and hate speech, disinformation has blurred." 

Associated Press Report

Musk is the world’s wealthiest man, according to Forbes, with a nearly $265 billion fortune. But much of his money is tied up in Tesla stock — he owns about 17% of the company, according to FactSet, which is valued at more than $1 trillion — and SpaceX, his privately held space company. It’s unclear how much cash Musk has, associated press analysis says. 

“I do think this will be somewhat painful and I’m not sure that I will actually be able to acquire it,” Musk said in his Thursday interview.

Musk could sell Tesla stock to raise money — which could hurt Tesla’s share price — or borrow against his stock holdings. But Forbes notes that he has already used more than half of his Tesla stake as loan collateral.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk spent the past few days tweeting several proposed changes to Twitter and deleting many tweets after he purchased a 9.2% stake purchase in the company, then later made a proposal to buy 100% shares. Musk suggested in a tweet that the price of 'Twitter Blue' only available in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, “should be proportionate to affordability & in local currency.”

He suggested that San Francisco’s headquarters of Twitter must be converted to a homeless center, sarcastically hinting that he might relocate the operations out of California over the government spat much like he did with Tesla. "Nobody shows up anyway," Musk wrote as he launched a poll. 

In a now-deleted tweet, SpaceX CEO wrote: “Is Twitter dying?” In the subsequent tweet he said that Twitter must change its name by removing the “w” from the word “Twitter.”

Just recently Musk also tweeted "I love you".

He had also objected to the advertisements on Twitter, stating: “The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends on advertising money to survive.” It is to be noted that 90% of Twitter’s revenue in 2021 was generated from the advertising. Musk who describes himself as a  “free speech absolutist” says he has “sufficient assets” to reach a deal to acquire Twitter. “I can do it if possible," he said. 

Elon Musk is already floating suggestions for changes he’d like to see on the social media platform. In a series of tweets, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said that the company should include an “authentication checkmark” as a feature of its Twitter Blue premium subscription service, which costs $2.99 a month.

Twitter adds a checkmark logo next to a user name when the account has been verified “authentic, notable and active.”

Musk floated other suggestions for Twitter Blue. “Everyone who signs up for Twitter Blue (ie pays $3/month) should get an authentication checkmark,” he tweeted.

“Price should probably be ~$2/month, but paid 12 months up front & account doesn’t get checkmark for 60 days (watch for CC chargebacks) & suspended with no refund if used for scam/spam,” he said.

“And no ads. The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends on advertising money to survive,” he added.

Musk also suggested Twitter make the authentication checkmarks of premium subscriber accounts different than those granted to official accounts belonging to public figures, for example. Such a move, Musk said, would “massively expand” the pool of verified user accounts and discourage the proliferation of spam “bot” accounts, making them too expensive to maintain.

Musk also shared ideas for how Twitter should charge for its subscription membership, saying the fee “should be proportionate to affordability and in local currency,” and adding: “Maybe even an option to pay in Doge?” referring to the Dogecoin cryptocurrency.

Input: Associated Press

After the world noted billionaire Elon Musk's association with Twitter after the former's huge investment in the micro-blogging site, the Tesla founder has been accused of breaching laws while acquiring Twitter's shares. Musk's Twitter stock purchase took a whole new twist with the filing of a lawsuit charging him with breaches of compliance; it maintained that he purposefully and illegally delayed the process to disclose his stake in the social media giant so he could buy more shares at a lower rate. 

The lawsuit comes to the fore after Twitter declared that Musk had been appointed to its board while CEO Parag Agrawal affirmed and welcomed the association. Musk has utilized nearly USD 2.6 billion on Twitter stock which is the largest individual fortune in the world, as per the news agency Associated Press. 

The complaint against Musk is taken up before the New York Federal Court and accused Musk of violating a regulatory deadline to reveal that he had already acquired a stake of at least 5%.

[Credit: AP]

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Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal who has declined to discuss the intrinsic details of Elon Musk's offer to purchase the 100% shares has stated that the board was considering the proposal, but added that Musk "cannot change" the strong culture of the company aimed at protecting its users, a WSJ report revealed citing the sources that heard the remarks at the company.  Diversity is core to the company's identity, Agrawal emphasized when asked about Tesla's treatment of minority employees. He was hinting at Musk who was sued in February by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing for alleged racial discrimination at Tesla.

Micro-blogging platform Twitter will evaluate tech billionaire Elon Musk's $43 billion offer. The social media company has responded to the Tesla CEO's "unsolicited, non-binding" offer and has agreed to look into it. Taking the world and the micro-blogging platform by surprise, Elon Musk made a massive offer to the company, proposing to buy it out for about $43 billion.

"Twitter's board will evaluate an "unsolicited, non-binding" offer from Tesla chief Elon Musk to acquire the social media company", Twitter said. 

The offer was announced by Musk at the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, April 14. Confirming the same on Twitter, the Tesla CEO shared the link to his offer and wrote: "I made an offer." Musk has offered to pay $54.20 per share in cash which is a 54% premium of the closing price on January 28 and a 38% premium to the closing price on April 1. 

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After reports emerged that Twitter's board of directors wasn't happy with Elon Musk’s offer to buy all shares in the company for $43 billion, Musk polled his Twitter followers with a prompt and a suggestion: “Taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to shareholders, not the board”.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk took a dig at Saudi Arabia’s free speech and human rights record as he asked Twitter's largest shareholder Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud two questions on his official Twitter handle: “How much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly and indirectly?” enquired Musk. “What are the Kingdom’s views on journalistic freedom of speech?” he went to ask.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud who heads the Kingdom Holding Company, the Riyadh-based conglomerate purchased Twitter shares in 2011 as the social media form made its initial public offering in the year 2013 in San Francisco. 

One of Twitter's largest shareholders, Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed bin Talal, has rejected SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $41 billion cash bid for a potential takeover of Twitter Inc. “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,” the prince tweeted, making Musk question the Prince’s opinion on subject of freedom of speech.

“Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer,” Al Waleed bin Talal said.