BREAKING: Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44 Billion

Following the news of closing the deal with Twitter's board, Elon Musk stressed that this acquisition is mainly about freedom of speech and how the social network contributed to it: Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. Meanwhile, Twitter's independent board chair Bret Taylor released a statement regarding the resolution of Musk's proposal: The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon's proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing. The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders. Elon Musk's offer is for $54.20 per share price of Twitter, which comes to around $44 billion in total that shareholders will receive. Enhancing the user experience Elon Musk is one of the most prominent Twitter users, with 80 million+ following his tweets (like this Elden Ring meme).

Long before Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk started on the road of acquiring Twitter Inc., he was already one of the most prominent and visible users of the platform. Musk has over 80 million followers on his official Twitter account.

On that note, Musk issued a statement regarding his vision on what Twitter can be in the future: I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential — I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it. The billionaire tech mogul has regularly posted anything from memes to cryptocurrency trends to personal and political point of views. At times, Musk's tweets have been controversial, particularly during the COVID pandemic and the last U.S. presidential elections. Twitter users react Appropriately, the Twitter community has reacted to the news of the buyout. Twitter counts many key public figures such as celebrities, journalists, and politicians among its active user base. The news of Elon Musk's buyout led to various reactions from these celebs, with equal numbers of positive and negative perspectives:

One particular point of interest is the possibility of reinstating Donald Trump's Twitter. The former U.S. president was permanently banned on the platform:

And of course, Musk himself had something to say, directed at his critics:

A new era for Twitter Regardless of which side of the fence one has about Elon Musk and his buyout of Twitter, this is certainly a new era for the popular social media platform. It is certainly going to be one of the biggest tech transactions in recent history.

One key change is this would mark the end of Twitter as a public company. Elon Musk has stated he is taking the social networking service private. On the other hand, Musk's broad plans look promising on the surface. What new technologies and initiatives could Musk implement in the future? Having a direct business interaction with Musk's Starlink is a likely possibility.

Musk will also likely look at the verticals for Twitter, as the company has had difficulties with monetization, something its rivals Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have had more success with. Plus, Musk had earlier posted suggestions for improvements, including a long-requested edit option for existing published tweets.

Current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, issued the following statement: Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. [I am] deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important. https://twitter.com/paraga/status/1518664847768006656

It is unclear if Agrawal will be retained in his current position. However, Twitter has had a history of a revolving door of CEOs, as Agrawal himself took over from Jack Dorsey in 2021.

Twitter stock (NYSE: TWTR) closed at $51.70 U.S., rising 5.66% following Elon Musk's deal.