Elon Musk is offering to buy all of Twitter. Yes, even the coffee machines in the break room.

Twitter announced in a regulatory finding Thursday morning that Musk, who currently owns 9% of the company, is offering to buy the remaining shares of Twitter.

I made an offer https://t.co/VvreuPMeLu

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2022

The world’s richest man is offering $54.20 a share, for a total of $43 billion. Twitter stock closed yesterday at $45.85. 

Twitter said in a statement its Board of Directors “will carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action it believes is in the best interest of the Company and all Twitter stockholders.” CNBC reports Twitter’s board would meet this morning to evaluate the bid. 

Musk’s Statement to Twitter

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission, Musk wrote Bret Taylor, the chairman of Twitter’s board. He said, in part: 

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.

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.

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. My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.”

If the deal doesn’t work, given that I don’t have confidence in management nor do I believe I can drive the necessary change in the public market, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.

This is not a threat, it’s simply not a good investment without the changes that need to be made. And those changes won’t happen without taking the company private.

We go live to Twitter Headquarters…

https://twitter.com/IAmericanMama/status/1514566255486939137?s=20&t=bx_LToYPZ0Xd6gzX3jj4CA

The Free Speech Advocate vs the Suppressors and Censors of Twitter

Musk, a staunch free speech advocate, has been vocal about Twitter’s policy of censoring and suppressing voices and stories that don’t fit its radical agenda.

In the Orwellian, collective minds of the media, somehow Musk’s bid to take over Twitter and re-open the marketplace of ideas on this dominant information-sharing platform is seen as bad for democracy.

I am frightened by the impact on society and politics if Elon Musk acquires Twitter. He seems to believe that on social media anything goes. For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less.

— Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@MaxBoot) April 14, 2022

Do they make “comfort vests” for humans? 

The Washington Post argued (behind a paywall) that “Elon Musk’s vision of ‘free speech’ will be bad for Twitter.” From Vox, “Elon Musk is no free speech messiah.” Vox doesn’t want Musk changing what Twitter has become. Check out this statement:

In recent years, amid a pandemic that highlighted the life-and-death stakes of misinformation, as well as the political chaos and violence fueled by election disinformation, Twitter has taken a more proactive approach to content moderation, flagging misleading tweets and even removing them in some cases.

How euphemistic. Twitter censored life-saving information. Censored the voices of doctors and researchers who didn’t tow the Fauci-WHO-Democratic line on therapeutics, vaccines, lockdowns, masks, killing and ruining how many people in the process?

It labeled as “misinformation” data and facts that have since proven true.

And “election disinformation”?! For starters, Twitter blocked the New York Post‘s bombshell reports on Hunter Biden’s laptop and candidate Joe Biden’s knee deep involvement in shady deals with the Communist Chinese. A censorship effort that had a direct impact on the 2020 Election. 

And it’s “proactive approach to content moderation”? That meant permanently suspending tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Twitter users — including yours truly — in its massive post January 6 purge of conservative voices. Name a prominent conservative who has not been temporarily or permanently barred from Twitter. (Okay. Now name a prominent liberal.)

It banned the President of the United States. 

By golly, it suspended The Babylon Bee. A satire site. THE BABYLON BEE!

Tucker Welcomes Musk to Twitter

Tucker Carlson is among those celebrating what Musk’s control of Twitter could mean. In a segment Tuesday, Carlson declared:

A free Twitter would mean an open debate about ideas on the single most important incubator of elite opinion in the world. It would mean a return to free and fair elections in the United States, a system which both sides are allowed to make their case to the public and the public can decide. It’s called democracy.

Above all, a free Twitter would mean a direct challenge to the people in charge of our country’s institutions, many of whom are incompetent. For the first time in years we’ll be able to talk honestly about our leaders. We’ll be able to have the kind of conversations that make democracy possible.

Here’s Tucker’s segment. 

 

A Return of Trump?

The minute Musk revealed he had become Twitter’s biggest shareholder, speculation arose about whether this would mean the return of former President Trump to Twitter. Twitter immediately rejected the idea. Trump himself says he “probably wouldn’t have any interest” in returning to Twitter. However, if Musk is successful in his bid to buy all of Twitter, who knows? 

A free speech-welcoming Twitter may not be able to save democracy, but a Trump-welcoming Twitter would certainly make it more interesting. 

We’ll see how Musk’s bid plays out in the coming days and weeks. And can only speculate on what will happen if his bid fails. All we know is today Elon Musk declared he’s willing to spend $43 billion to create a massive social media platform that welcomes free speech.

And the enemies of free speech in America have reason to be worried. 

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, chief barista for The Brew and co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration. You can follow him at @StreamingAl at GETTR, Gab, Parler, and real soon at TRUTH Social.