Elon Musk takes over Twitter: Explained in 10 points

New Delhi, Apr 26: Twitter accepted Elon Musk's $44 billion takeover bid and the deal is done now. While the deal will close sometime this year, the shareholders still have to weigh in as well as regulators in the United States and in countries where Twitter does business.

Twitter's board unanimously approved Musk's proposal and is also recommending that the shareholders do the same.

Is a new platform needed?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2022

What you should know about Musk taking over Twitter

1. Twitter would become a privately held company as Elon Musk finally sealed the $44 billion deal in one of the biggest buy-outs
2. Musk (50) in a tweet said that 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
3. "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," Musk said
4. Musk had earlier this month revealed his purchase intentions and Twitter had adopted a limited duration shareholder rights plan
5. The Rights Plan will reduce the likelihood that any entity, person or group gains control over Twitter through open market accumulation without paying all shareholders an appropriate control premium
6. The deal finally saw the light of the day after much uncertainty. Twitter says for employees it would be business as usual
7. Musk has secured $25.5 billion of fully committed debt and margin loan financing and is providing $21.0 billion equity commitment
8. The board adopted the Rights Plan following an unsolicited and non-binding proposal to acquire Twitter
9. "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means," Musk had written
10. Musk is known for his several business ambitions and had also started what is popularly known as his dream to colonise space