Elon Musk just offered to buy Twitter. Why?

On Thursday, Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter outright for $54.20/share in a deal valued at ~$43B. Naturally, he shared the SEC filing — which outlines his “best and final offer” — in a tweet.

The news is the latest in an ongoing Musk-Twitter saga:

• April 4: Musk bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter, making him the company’s largest shareholder.
• April 5: Twitter announced Musk would join the board.
• April 10: Musk rejected the offer to join the board.

Now, Musk says he wants to take Twitter private, which he believes would enable the platform to better serve the “societal imperative” of free speech through alternative policies and an open-sourced algorithm.

Musk is a prolific tweeter himself, known for crude jabs at the SEC and sitting senators, and esteemed jokes about toilets and the number 69.

Over the years, Twitter has struggled to grow its business meaningfully, with its stock nearly flat to where it was in 2013. The company is now worth ~$35B.

Musk’s net worth has ballooned to ~$259B during the pandemic. In an interview following the news, he said he doesn’t “care about the economics” of Twitter.

A Twitter insider told The Information the company’s board plans to fight the bid.