Twitter CEO Reassures Employees, Says Company Not ‘Held Hostage’ By Musk's Offer: Report

Hours after Space X and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Thursday offered to buy microblogging site Twitter Inc on Thursday, Twitter’s CEO Parag Agrawal reassured the employee that the company is not “held hostage” by Musk’s offer, Reuters reported citing sources. 

According to the report, Agrawal was addressing the employees on the company’s Slack messaging service. While encouraging the employees to remain focused he said, “We as employees control what happens.”

Agrawal said that the board is acting in the best interest of shareholders, after an employee asked if the company is inviting any and all billionaires to the board, as per the report.

“I have a strong point of view that people who are critical of our service, their voice is something that we must emphasize so that we can learn and get better,” Agrawal said. 

Musk offered to buy the microblogging site worth $41.39 billion. He has offered $54.20 per share, at a 38 per cent premium to the closing price of Twitter’s stock on April 1, the last trading day before Musk bought the majority stake in the company. 

Earlier this week, Musk rejected the company’s much-anticipated offer of joining the Twitter board. 

Musk became the largest shareholder of Twitter on April 4, after buying a 9.2 per cent stake in the company. Musk owns 73.5 million shares of common stock in his personal capacity. Musk's stake in Twitter is considered a passive investment, which means Musk is a long-term investor that's looking to minimize his buying and selling of the shares. 

In a letter to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor Musk said, “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." 

“My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder," he added.