DUBAI: Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter at $54.20 per share, just days after refusing to join the social media company’s board of directors.
News of the bid set the internet, and especially Twitter, on fire.
The Twitch streamer and social media influencer known as “Arab” on Instagram and YouTube and “Your Fellow Arab” on Twitter said he was excited by Musk’s offer.
“Twitter is my favorite platform and Elon Musk is a god amongst men,” he told Arab News.
“If they sell Twitter to him, I know he will succeed.”
But Saudi businessman Prince Al Waleed bin Talal, who is chairman of Kingdom Holding Co., Rotana and Al Waleed Philanthropies, was less impressed.
“Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, @Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer,” he said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, Dubai-based Dr. Petar Stojanov, who leads the innovation and future strategy practice at global design and innovation advisory Black, explained the potential backlash if Twitter rejects Musk’s offer.
Twitter Inc. said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that Musk, who is its biggest shareholder with just over 9 percent, provided a letter on Wednesday that contained a proposal to buy the remaining shares in the company.
Twitter said its board of directors would “carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the company and all Twitter stockholders.”
Hassan Sajwani, a social media influencer with more than 100,000 followers, posted a series of tweets about the offer.
Following Musk’s bid, shares in Twitter jumped nearly 12 percent before the market opened.
As of January, the social networking platform had more than 14 million users in Saudi Arabia, according to Statista. Twitter’s global revenue increased by 37 percent year on year in 2021, according to its Q4 earnings call.
