‘Funding Secured:’ Remembering the Last Time Elon Musk Said He Was Taking a Company Private

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reportedly offered to buy 100 percent of Twitter stock at $54.20 per share in cash and restore free speech across the platform. The offer comes several years after Musk infamously tweeted his plan to take Tesla private at $420 a share.

Breitbart News recently reported that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has made a public offer to buy 100 percent of Twitter stock at $54.20, an 18 percent premium over Twitter’s closing price yesterday. The purchase would amount to around $43 billion in total if approved.

Breitbart News reporter Allum Bokhari writes:

In his publicly disclosed communication to the chairman of Twitter’s board, which can be read in full here, Musk said promoting free speech around the world was the motivation behind his offer.

Musk said he did not believe Twitter could reach its potential for free speech as a publicly owned company, saying “Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”

…

Twitter previously offered Musk a seat on Twitter’s board in return for a guarantee that the billionaire would not buy more than 14.9 percent of shares in the company. 15 percent is a crucial threshold that gives shareholders more legal rights in some jurisdictions.

On March 25, Elon Musk conducted a poll on Twitter asking followers if they believed the platform “rigorously adhered” to the principle of free speech, which he said was “essential to a functioning democracy.”

Musk’s letter to Twitter board members can be seen below:

Bret Taylor

Chairman of the Board,

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.

However, 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.

As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced. My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.

Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.

/s/ Elon Musk
Elon Musk

This isn’t the first time that Musk has discussed taking a public company private. In 2018, Musk infamously tweeted that he would be taking Tesla private at $420 a share (the specific price being a marijuana reference also reflected in Musk’s Twitter bid) and that he had “funding secured” to do so.

Shortly after the announcement, Musk backed down stating that he would not be taking the electric car company private, writing a lengthy post about why he had made such a sudden change. The post came shortly after a damning report by the New York Post featuring quotes from Tesla insiders which described the company as a “sh*t show” under Musk. From building a production line in a tent to produce 5,000 cars a week, 4,300 of which needed reworking, to Musk facing an  SEC investigation over his “funding secured” tweets, Tesla faced some tough months.

Musk was eventually sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission which alleged that he committed securities fraud. Musk finally agreed to an SEC settlement after initially refusing and both he and Tesla paid a $20 million fine; but in February of this year, it was reported that Musk was issued another subpoena by the SEC which was attempting to determine whether he had complied with the settlement agreement.

Whether Musk will be able to successfully convince the board of Twitter to sell him the social media platform remains to be seen.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com