Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has offered to buy Twitter, saying he is the right person to “unlock” the social media platform’s potential.
Musk said he would pay $54.20 per share for Twitter, valuing it at $41 billion.
Musk has recently been revealed to be Twitter’s largest shareholder after he acquired a large stake in the company.
If his offer was not accepted: “I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder”.
There was an apparent filing with the US financial regulator showing that Mr Musk had discussed taking Twitter private in text messages and/or voice messages over the weekend.
On Sunday, Twitter announced that Musk had declined to join the board.
In the messages, Mr Musk said he was not “playing the back-and-forth game” and insisted its shareholders would “love the high price” he was offering for the firm.
In the filing with the US financial regulator Mr 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.
“However, 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.”
He added: “Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.”
Twitter had offered Mr Musk a seat on its board after it emerged that he held a 9.2% stake in the company.
The role was set to become effective last weekend but then Mr Musk decided against taking it.