By James Titcomb

14 April 2022 • 8:32pm

Elon Musk has vowed to fight for the “future of civilisation” after launching an audacious $43bn (£33bn) takeover bid for Twitter.

The billionaire Tesla boss said he wants to take Twitter private because the platform - which has been criticised as a Left-wing echo chamber - is “important to the functioning of democracy”.

Twitter’s board was last night preparing to fight the takeover attempt by the world’s richest man, while one of its biggest shareholders said he also opposed Mr Musk’s plans.

Mr Musk, 50, insisted that he could fund the takeover but admitted that “I’m not sure that I will actually be able to acquire it”.

Twitter revealed on Thursday that it had received a $54.20-a-share bid from Mr Musk to acquire the entire company, and said it was considering the offer. 

Shares closed 1.8pc lower in a sign that investors believe he faces an uphill struggle to win control. Tesla dropped 3.3pc amid questions over whether Mr Musk will sell any of his stake to finance the bid.

Mr Musk, who said he does not have confidence in the social network’s management, was revealed as Twitter’s largest shareholder last week and turned down an offer to sit on the company’s board, which would have prevented him launching a takeover effort.

Speaking in Vancouver, he said he did not care about making money from the investment but that he wanted to protect Twitter as a “public square”.

Mr Musk said: “This is not a way to make money. My strong, intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilisation. I don’t care about the economics at all.

“It’s very important that we have an inclusive arena for free speech; Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square. It’s just really important that people have both the reality and the perception that they’re able to speak freely within the bounds of the law.

"It’s important to the function of democracy, it’s important to the function of the US as a free country and many other countries, and to help freedom in the world.”

Buying Twitter would turn Mr Musk, who is worth about $259bn, into one of its most powerful media barons. One of the site's most popular users, he has repeatedly questioned the company’s commitment to free speech after incidents such as banning Donald Trump from the service.

Mr Musk told Twitter’s chairman, Bret Taylor, that it “needs to be transformed as a private company” and that he does not have confidence in its management. The Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey, last year resigned from the company and was replaced by veteran insider Parag Agrawal.

Mr Musk’s $54.20 bid - which referenced 4/20, an internet meme celebrating marijuana culture - represented a 38pc premium to the company’s share price before he was revealed as an investor earlier this month.

However, Twitter’s board seemed poised to reject the deal on Thursday night. Its directors viewed the offer as unwelcome, the technology website The Information reported. The board is considering a “poison pill” legal strategy that would block Mr Musk from increasing his 9.1pc stake in the company, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Saudi Prince Talal Alwaleed, a longstanding Twitter shareholder, rejected Mr Musk’s offer: “I don't believe that the proposed offer by Elon Musk comes close to the intrinsic value of Twitter given its growth prospects. Being one of the largest and long-term shareholders of Twitter ... I reject this offer."

In response, Mr Musk tweeted: 

Mr Musk, who also runs the rocket company SpaceX, did not provide details of how he planned to finance his bid. Bloomberg estimates that he has slightly less than $3bn in cash, meaning he would have to borrow heavily or sell his Tesla stake to finance an individual bid.

Speaking at the Ted 2022 conference in Canada, he said: “I have sufficient assets, absolutely I can do it if possible,” he said, adding that he would welcome other Twitter shareholders remaining as investors.

However, he said: “I’m not sure I will be able to acquire it,” and said he had a plan B if his offer is rejected.

Mr Musk told Mr Taylor that his bid was a “best and final offer” and that “if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder”.

This led to speculation that he was deliberately making an offer that would be rejected in order to let him save face by selling his stake shortly after buying it.

The tycoon bought his shares for between $32 and $40 and would make a profit of around $600m if he sold out at the current price of $45.

Mr Musk said he would push for more content to be left online and that he wanted the company’s algorithms to be open sourced so that they could be publicly inspected for bias.

He said: “A good sign as to whether there’s free speech is, is someone you don’t like allowed to say something you don’t like."

Mr Musk has also pushed for Twitter to introduce an edit button and to improve its subscription service so it is less dependent on advertising. He also asked if the platform is "dying" and pointed out that many of its most-followed accounts are celebrities who almost never tweet.