Elon Musk, the South African billionaire, has made a significant offer to acquire Twitter outright, proposing to buy all remaining shares for $54.20 per share. This offer represents a substantial premium: 54% over Twitter's value the day before Musk began investing and 38% over the day before his investment was publicly announced. Following the news, Twitter shares surged by 18% in pre-market trading, reaching $45.85 at press time.

Musk's decision to pursue full ownership comes shortly after he declined a seat on Twitter's board of directors. In a letter to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor, disclosed in a securities filing with the SEC, Musk articulated his rationale: "I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy." He further stated his belief that "the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form," and thus, "Twitter needs to be transformed into a private company." Musk reiterated that his offer was his "best and final offer," adding that if not accepted, he would "need to reconsider" his position as a shareholder.

The serial entrepreneur, aged 50, emphasized that taking the company private is essential for the necessary changes to occur, asserting, "it's simply not a good investment without the changes that need to be made. And those changes won’t happen without taking the company private." He expressed confidence in Twitter's "extraordinary potential" and his ability to "unlock it."

Twitter's board has acknowledged the proposal, stating they would review it and any subsequent response would be in the best interests of "all Twitter stockholders." According to Refinitiv data, the total deal value, based on 763.58 million shares outstanding, is estimated at $43 billion. For context, Elon Musk's personal net worth is approximately $260 billion, as per the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index, dwarfing Twitter's market valuation of around $37 billion.