Twitter shareholder Saudi Prince rejects Elon Musk’s offer; Tesla chief reacts

NEW DELHI: Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who owns a major stake in social media platform Twitter, rejected Elon Musk’s offer to acquire 100 per cent stake in company at $43 billion.
Taking to Twitter, the Saudi Prince wrote: “Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, Kingdom Holding Company & I reject this offer.”

Alwaleed is the richest individual in Saudi Arabia, with a $16.5 billion fortune, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index showed. Most of his wealth is derived from his 95 per cent ownership of Kingdom Holding Company.
According to a 2015 regulatory filing seen by news agency Bloomberg, Alwaleed along with his Kingdom Holding Company, owned a 5.2 per cent stake in the social media platform. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates the position is now about 4.4 per cent of Twitter.
The tweet by the Saudi Prince prompted a rapid retort from Musk, who asked how many shares the investor held in Twitter, and what are the Kingdom’s view on freedom of speech for journalists.

The spar comes after the Tesla chief offered to buy the social media company Twitter for $43 billion.
The world’s richest person offered $54.20 a share, which values Twitter at some $43 billion, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission made public on Thursday.
Last week, disclosed a purchase of 73.5 million shares — or 9.2 per cent — of Twitter’s common stock, an announcement that sent its shares soaring more than 25 per cent.
On Friday, Musk started a new poll, with a tagline that “taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to shareholders, not the board.”

In another tweet, he wrote: “Will endeavour to keep as many shareholders in privatised Twitter as allowed by law.”

(With inputs from agencies)