Twitter has agreed to sell itself to Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, in a $44bn (£35bn) deal.
The deal puts the Tesla chief executive in charge of a company with 217 million users and an influential role in shaping the political and media agenda on both sides of the Atlantic. Twitter’s initial reluctance to accept a transaction appeared to fade after Musk confirmed a funding package for the deal and shareholders warmed to it.
Musk has signalled that Twitter will be overhauled under his leadership, including changes in content moderation, having described himself as a “free speech absolutist”.
The deal comes after a dramatic few weeks of speculation about Twitter’s future, triggered by Musk’s emergence as the platform’s largest single shareholder on 4 April. He then declared a $43bn takeover bid on 14 April, which prompted Twitter’s board to signal its displeasure at his overtures by adopting a so-called poison pill defence 24 hours later.
However, the apparent opposition of Twitter’s board faded after Musk drew up a $46.5bn funding package for the bid, including $21bn of his own money. According to reports, both shareholders and the Twitter board began to take the offer seriously once finance had been put in place.
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The deal is not expected to face serious scrutiny from US competition authorities because Musk’s major business interests – an electric car company, the SpaceX rocket business and tunnelling firm the Boring Company – do not compete with Twitter.
However, the deal is likely to draw comment from politicians and campaigning bodies given Twitter’s influence as an information source and Musk’s stance on free speech.
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