Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for $43 billion

Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter for about $43 billion in cash, saying the social media company he has often criticised needs to go private to see effective changes.

Musk's price of $54.20 per share, which was disclosed in a regulatory filing on Thursday, represents a 38% premium to Twitter's April 1 close, the last trading day before Tesla CEO's more than 9% stake in the company was made public.

The billionaire rejected an offer to join Twitter's board earlier this week after disclosing his stake in the company, a move which analysts said signalled his intention to take over the company as a board seat would have limited his stake to just under 15%. read more

"Since making my investment I now realise the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company," Musk said in a letter to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor.

Musk, who calls himself a free-speech absolutist, has been critical of the social media platform and its policies, and recently ran a poll on Twitter asking users if they believed the platform adheres to the principle of free speech.

"My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder," Musk added.

Twitter will review Musk's offer with advice from Goldman Sachs & Co and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a source told Reuters.

The company's shares jumped 12% in premarket trading, while those of Tesla fell about 1%. The total deal value was calculated based on 763.58 million shares outstanding, according to Refinitiv data.

Musk has amassed over 80 million followers since joining the site in 2009 and has used the platform to make several announcements, including teasing a go-private deal for Tesla that landed him in hot water with regulators.