- Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter outright for about $43 billion.
- Musk is already Twitter's largest shareholder, with a 9.2% stake.
- He's hinted he could sell this stake if Twitter rejects his offer.
Elon Musk appeared to threaten Twitter with selling his 9.2% stake in the company if it rejects his audacious $43 billion takeover offer.
Musk, Twitter's largest shareholder, has offered to buy the company outright for $54.20 per share in cash, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing Thursday.
The filing quotes a letter sent by Musk to Twitter chairman Bret Taylor, dated Wednesday. In the letter, Musk tells Taylor: "My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder."
The SEC filing also details a "voice script" that appears to involve an oral message delivered by Musk to Taylor.
"If the deal doesn't work, given that I don't have confidence in management nor do I believe I can drive the necessary change in the public market, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder," Musk appears to have said. "This is not a threat, it's simply not a good investment without the changes that need to be made."
Per the filing, in his letter to Taylor, Musk said: "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 added: "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."
Musk disclosed his 9.2% stake in Twitter in early April.
Twitter said Thursday it had received "an unsolicited, non-binding proposal from Elon Musk to acquire all of the company's outstanding common stock" and would "carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the company and all Twitter stockholders."