Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk made the bold move of offering to buy Twitter for a price of $43.4 billion (approximately £33 billion). This would classify the move as a hostile takeover of the social media platform.
The chief executive and founder of Tesla previously bought a 9.2% stake in the company, making him the biggest shareholder. Though Twitter initially seemed happy with him coming on board as a stakeholder and a potential board member, they do not appear to be so welcoming in terms of him buying the social media platform outright.
Why has he chosen to invest in the platform? It is well-known that he does not believe that it acts best when it comes to freedom of speech. If the sale goes ahead and he does successfully buy it, he had promised to unlock its “extraordinary potential”.
Writing in a letter to Bret Taylor, the current chair of Twitter, Elon Musk said: “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 realise the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”
Should this sale go ahead, Musk’s changes could seriously disrupt the platform as we currently know it, causing a ripple effect that hits affiliate marketers and other users.
