Elon Musk is buying Twitter for $44 billion

The Tesla CEO wants the platform to focus on free speech

Less than a month after Elon Musk became the site's single largest shareholder, the Tesla CEO has entered a deal to acquire Twitter for about $44 billion in cash at $54.20 per share, which will take the company private in the process. This move comes after Twitter's board had publicly floated the option of a poison pill strategy, only to accept Musk's offer this afternoon.

It initially seemed unlikely that Musk's hostile takeover of the social network would work out in his favor, as early reports had made it seem like the board was uninterested in the offer. The conversation seemingly changed overnight after the billionaire found the money he needed to fund the purchase late last week, providing $21 billion from his own accounts. The rest of the funding comes from a series of loans from banks like Morgan Stanley, both personally and against Tesla stock. Late Sunday night, we learned the board had begun negotiations with Musk, who hinted at his deal going forward Monday afternoon.

In previous comments, Musk has stated that he wants users to "speak freely within the bounds of the law" on the platform, calling it a modern-day town square. Musk provided the following statement regarding the deal:

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it."

With this deal, one of Twitter's most prolific and controversial posters will be in charge. The site's stock was up more than 5% before trading was halted as negotiations came to a close. The deal is expected to be finalized this year.