Elon Musk shook the internet by announcing plans to buy Twitter at an estimated $41 billion. The Tesla CEO made his “best and final” offer of $54.20 per share in cash to buy 100 per cent of the social media platform.
His bid to buy Twitter has set up the billionaire entrepreneur against one of Twitter’s major shareholders – Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
Days after the Tesla chief refused to take a seat on the board of Twitter, Musk got to know that some investors, including the Saudi Prince are against his $43 billion all-cash offer to Twitter chairman Bret Taylor.
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Speaking upon Musk’s proposed offer, Talal tweeted, “I don't believe that the proposed offer by @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of @Twitter given its growth prospects.”
While announcing the valuation, Musk offered $54.20 per share of Twitter, claiming that the platform has “extraordinary potential” and he will unlock it.
In reference to this purchase offer, Talal tweeted, “Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, @Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer”. As of yet, the Saudi prince holds a 5.2 per cent stake in Twitter while Elon Musk owns over 9 nine per cent.
Interestingly, Musk chose to speak out against Talal’s statement on Twitter with a rather witty remark. The business magnate asked two questions in a tweet that read, “Interesting. Just two questions, if I may. How much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly & indirectly? What are the Kingdom's views on journalistic freedom of speech?”
While making an offer to buy Twitter on Thursday, Musk said that the firm needs to be transformed as a private one and he would reconsider his position as a shareholder if his “best and final offer” is rejected.
Meanwhile, the Twitterverse seems to have a different take on Musk’s decision to buy Twitter. Many Twitteratis are now using the #ceylonmusk to refer to a correlation between Musk’s $43 billion cash offer for Twitter and Sri Lanka’s debt worth $45 billion.
Many Twitter users claim that Musk can withdraw Sri Lanka from its heavy debt situation by using the amount he has proposed to buy Twitter. Some even calculated how Musk can pull out Sri Lanka from the ongoing economic crisis and offered to rename him Ceylon Musk instead of Elon Musk.
