Elon Musk has reportedly submitted a bid for social media giant Twitter for $41 billion, following his rejection of a seat on the company’s board earlier in April.
The Tesla and SpaceX tycoon offered the price of $54.20 per share, which represented a 38% premium to the firm’s April 1 close.
Twitter’s share price spiked 12% in premarket trading on Thursday.
“Since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company,” Musk wrote in a letter Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor, via Reuters.
“My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.”
Analysts noted the move as a predictable next step in Musk’s involvement with Twitter, and cited the positive response from shareholders to the offer.
“Elon Musk’s unsolicited offer to takeover Twitter has shocked the market. However, the move shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise in reality, when his decision not to take up a seat on Twitter’s board strongly suggested a takeover was in Musk’s thoughts,” said Hargreaves Lansdown lead equity analyst Sophie Lund-Yates.
“Elon Musk thinks Twitter’s potential is stifled by current management and its position as a public company. Changing either of those things is an enormous move, and one that will sting the ego of the existing management team.”
“The premium being offered by Musk to takeover the company suggests he thinks very highly indeed of what Twitter could be, but not what it is at present.”