Today we will comment on the purchase of the social network Twitter by the South African billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of the automaker Tesla and the richest person in the world.
Check below the comment by Rafael Bevilacqua, chief strategist and founding partner of the analysis house Levante Ideias de Investimento, on the subject. Every day, Bevilacqua brings you news and reviews of publicly traded companies for you to make the best investment decisions. This content is accessible to subscribers to UOL. O UOL has an exclusive area for those who want to invest their money safely and profit more than with savings. Meet!
Musk buys Twitter with pledge to defend free speech
Elon Musk, CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and richest person on the planet, has reached an agreement to buy the social network Twitter (NASDAQ: TWTR) for $44 billion, the equivalent of $54 .20 per share.
Musk had already caused controversy in recent weeks when he announced that he had acquired 9.2% of the platform’s shares, thus becoming the company’s largest individual shareholder. After the announcement, the billionaire received an invitation to join Twitter’s Board of Directors, but declined the offer.
The announcement of the acquisition of the shares came after the publication of a series of controversial tweets by the billionaire, who was dissatisfied with the current policy of the social network and with what he classified as a restriction of freedom of expression promoted by the platform.
If Musk joined the board, he would not be able to increase his stake beyond 14.9% of Twitter’s share capital, which would put an end to his ambition to become the owner of the social network. After the refusal, the CEO of Tesla began an intense campaign to buy Twitter.
In a document sent to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday (22), Musk said he had obtained the necessary resources. It would disburse $21 billion and rely on loans from a range of banks worth $25.5 billion, totaling $46.5 billion.
On Monday (25), after the markets in the United States closed, the transaction was confirmed, and Elon Musk became the new owner of Twitter.
Even before making the operation official, Musk posted a message on his Twitter account saying that he hopes that even his worst critics will remain on the platform, “because that’s what freedom of expression means”.
In a statement about the purchase, the billionaire said he wanted to make Twitter “better than ever before” and promised to enhance the product with new features, “making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating spam bots and authenticating all humans.” “.
The news is positive for the company’s shares in the very short term, since the price to be received by shareholders at the time of conclusion of the transaction is higher than the value of the shares at the closing of the day before.
However, upon completion of the deal, Twitter will become a privately held company, and its shares will no longer be traded on the Stock Exchange.
On Monday (25), Twitter shares closed up 5.66%, quoted at US$ 51.70.
