Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for $43 billion

Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for $43 billion, so it can be transformed as private company

Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share in a filing published Thursday, saying the social media company needs to be transformed privately, a little over a week after revealing a 9.1% stake in the company. Musk's offer values Twitter at about $43 billion, Qazet.az reports.

"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 wrote in a letter sent to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor and disclosed in a securities filing.

Twitter shares closed down 1.68% on Thursday. Tesla's stock dipped more than 3.6% on the news.

According to Musk, the social media company needs to go private because it can "neither thrive nor serve" free speech in its current state.

"As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced," he wrote. "My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder."