BILLIONAIRE 'TROLL'
Elon Musk jokes he made offer to buy Twitter ‘because he could afford it’ in TED Talk and says he’s got a ‘plan B’
ELON Musk has joked that he made an offer to buy Twitter because "he could afford it". during a TED Talk and said he's got a "plan B."
The billionaire joked he has a "plan B" during a TED Talk just hours after he moved to buy the social media giant for $43billion in cash, regulatory filings showed on Thursday.
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When asked why he made an offer to buy , the tech mogul joked that "he could afford it" but stressed that his proposal is not about money.
"I mean, I could technically afford it, but what I'm saying is this is not a way to sort of make money.
"My strong intuitive sense is having a public platform that is maximumly trusted, and broadly inclusive is extremely important to civilization," added.
"I don't care about the economics at all," the boss added.
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When asked if he has "funding secured" to buy Twitter, Elon said: "I have sufficient assets.
This is not a forward-looking statement. I mean, I can do it if possible, right."
Regarding the issue of free speech on the social media platform, Musk said he would err on the side of having "controversial speech up and open-source the algorithm."
The SpaceX founder said a priority for him would be "eliminating the spam and spambots," referencing the uptick in scammers.
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However, he acknowledged that he's not sure that "he'll actually be able to acquire it."
Adding that if the board doesn't accept his offer to acquire Twitter, he has a "Plan B" but refused to reveal more.
MEGA-BID
The mega-bid comes days after Musk made the surprise purchase of a nine percent stake in Twitter, which has 200million users.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced that the tech tycoon would join the board of directors - an offer that Musk later declined.
An updated filing on Thursday revealed that the world's richest man is making his “best and final” offer to buy 100 percent of Twitter.
He’s offering $54.20 per share in cash.
Should Twitter accept the bid, Musk would "acquire all of the outstanding Common Stock."
'NOT ENOUGH'
Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the largest and long-term shareholders of Twitter, rejected Musk's offer to buy the platform, saying "it's not enough."
"I don't believe that the proposed offer by @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of @Twitter given its growth prospects," Talal tweeted to his 14.1million followers on Thursday.
"Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, @Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer."
Musk responded to Prince Talal's rejection, asking, "how much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly & indirectly and what are the Kingdom’s views on journalistic freedom of speech?"
The tweet doesn't mean that Musk's offer has definitely been rejected.
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It's unclear how much of a say the Saudi prince will have in the final decision.
The claims that Twitter is reportedly considering a shareholder rights plan to prevent Musk from significantly increasing his stake in the company.
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