Elon Musk formally acquired the social media company Twitter in a deal that resulted in a legal dispute and some immediate firings.
Elon Musk paid $54.2 per share to acquire the social media site, putting the deal’s overall worth to just under $44 billion.As part of the agreement, Musk is also taking the business private, delisting its stock and removing it from the ownership of stockholders in the open market. After being listed on the NYSE in 2013, over 9 years ago, Twitter is no longer a publicly traded business.
On Friday, trading in Twitter shares will be suspended, according to the NYSE, eToro and Robinhood, two crypto-friendly trading platforms, also delisted Twitter shares from their platforms. Given that Musk had discussed the concept before included it in the purchase and had even previously stated his goal to take Tesla private, the decision to take Twitter private may not have come as a huge surprise to many.
Elon Musk would gain certain regulatory advantages and undoubtedly avoid paying any fines by taking Twitter public and away from the control of public shareholders. Musk was previously fined $40 million for “joking” about taking Tesla private. Being publicly traded draws intense scrutiny from authorities, and Musk and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have a notorious history together.
Twitter would also avoid some financial public scrutiny if it became a private firm because it would no longer be obligated to make quarterly declarations regarding the state of its business. Additionally, Binance, a cryptocurrency company, reportedly donated $500 million to the $44 billion Twitter transaction. With a $500 million stake in Twitter, Binance ranks as the takeover’s fourth-largest donor.
