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A Saudi prince with a major stake in Twitter rejected Elon Musk’s bid to buy Twitter today.
Musk, a billionaire who leads Tesla and SpaceX, made an offer today to buy all of Twitter’s outstanding stock at a price of $54.20 per share.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal rejected the move in a tweet, saying it does not reflect Twitter’s potential value.
“I don't believe that the proposed offer by @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of @Twitter given its growth prospects,” he tweeted. “Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, @Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer.”
Why it matters: Talal and Kingdom Holding Company, of which the prince owns 95%, are among the biggest shareholders of the publicly traded Twitter. The Saudi billionaire invested $300 million in Twitter back in 2011. In 2015, Talal and Kingdom Holding Company increased their investment to control 5% of the social media company.
The prince’s comments indicate he is optimistic about Twitter’s future. Twitter’s stock closed at a price of $45.85 a share yesterday, less than the price Musk offered. Twitter has traded well below Musk’s offering price for much of its existence.
Know more: Musk is concerned about Twitter’s content filtration strategy, which many critics say amounts to censorship. Among those who have been permanently banned from Twitter are former US President Donald Trump, some accounts allegedly connected to the Iranian government and many others. His bid for Twitter has sparked debate the role of big technology firms in limiting or censoring information and news.
