Just hours after Elon Musk offered to buy tech giant Twitter for $41.39 billion, the billionaire said he was not sure if he would ‘be able to acquire it’, but hinted at a plan B.
Asserting that his hostile bid was not aimed at making money but to create an inclusive arena for free speech, Musk said he has sufficient assets to carry out the deal. Musk’s net worth is estimated to be around $282 billion.
Speaking at TED2022 conference in Vancouver, Musk did not disclose what his plan B is but reports said he could dump the 9.2% stake in the company which had made him the largest shareholder in the social media giant.
“I am not sure that I will actually be able to acquire it,” he told the conference.
He called Securities and Exchange Commission officials “bastards” for bringing fraud charges against him over his 2018 tweets regarding taking Tesla private.
“So I was forced to concede to the SEC unlawfully. Those bastards.”
Musk offered to buy Twitter in a regulatory filing on Thursday. He is offering $54.20 per share. He made an announcement about his offer in a short tweet on Thursday that said ‘I made an offer’.
Musk has looked to give 38 per cent premium over the closing price of the stock of Twitter on April 1.
The single tweet from the billionaire sent shockwaves through the business world. The offer elicited fears as well as cheers.
Tech watchers reacted to the Tesla chief’s proposal for one of the world’s most influential information exchanges with immediate worries about accountability, public discourse and even how it could impact democracy.
“Twitter is too important to be owned and controlled by a single person,” tweeted venture capitalist Fred Wilson. “The opposite should be happening. Twitter should be decentralized.”
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has already come out against the proposal, saying it’s too low, drawing a sharp reply from Musk questioning Saudi Arabia’s “views on journalistic freedom of speech.”
Still, Musk provided some detail Thursday on his vision, saying he’d like to lift the veil on the algorithm that runs on the platform, even allowing people to look through it and suggest changes.
The mercurial billionaire is known to support free speech but is also opposed to curbs which experts believe are important to prevent negative real-world ramifications like violence.
“I do think that we want to be just very reluctant to delete things and just be very cautious with permanent bans. Timeouts, I think are better,” Musk told the Ted conference on Thursday, without addressing Trump directly.
“I think we want to really have, like a sort of obsession and reality, that speech is as free as reasonably possible,” he added.
Twitter not held hostage by Musk offer, says CEO
Meanwhile, speaking to employees, Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal said the company is not held hostage by Musk’s offer.
“We as employees control what happens,” he told staff, asking them to remain focused, according to news agency Reuters.
It said he was responding to staff queries posted on the Slack messaging service of Twitter.
Agarwal faced some tough questions in the interaction with staff.
One of them asked how Twitter decided to offer Musk a seat in the company’s board. “Are we just going to start inviting any and all billionaires to the board?”
According to Reuters, Agrawal said the board was acting in the best interest of shareholders. “I have a strong point of view that people who are critical of our service, their voice is something that we must emphasise so that we can learn and get better.”
Agarwal didn’t directly address a question as to how he viewed Musk’s definition of free speech, according to Reuters. He said the company’s work was focused on continuously improving “the health of conversation” on Twitter.
On Musk’s takeover offer, Agrawal said the board was continuing to review it, adding he was limited in what he could share with the employees.
(With inputs from agencies)
