A day after making an offer to buy Twitter Inc, Space X, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on late Thursday shared how he plans to change Twitter.
Musk, who is the largest shareholder of the microblogging site, in a TEDx talk show said, “It’s very important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech. Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square. It’s just really important that people have both the reality and the perception that they’re able to speak freely within the bounds of the law.”
“So one of the things that I believe Twitter should do is open-source the algorithm and make any changes to people’s tweets, if they’re emphasized or de-emphasized, and that action should be made apparent, so anyone can see that action has been taken. So there’s no sort of behind-the-scenes manipulation either algorithmically or manually,” he added.
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On Thursday, he made an offer to buy Twitter worth $41.39 billion. He 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.
As per the regulatory filing, Musk 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.
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On April 4, Musk bought a 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter. Musk currently 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.
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