- Twitter stock jumped 12% in premarket trading on Thursday after Elon Musk offered to buy the company outright.
- The world's richest person revealed his bid of $54.20 a share in regulatory filings the same day.
- He told the company's shareholders: "Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it."
- For more stories visit Business Insider.
Twitter stock jumped 12% in pre-market trading on Thursday after Elon Musk launched a bid to buy the social media company at $54.20 a share.
The world's richest man revealed his intentions in a regulatory filing Thursday, saying he believes Twitter has untapped potential and that he can transform it as a private company.
The $54.20 price tag represents an 18% premium over Twitter's Wednesday closing price of $45.85. It would value the company at about $43 billion.
It's a 54% premium over the January 28 price, which was the day before the Tesla boss started investing in the company. And it's a 38% premium over April 3's price, the day before Musk's investment was made public.
Twitter stock was up 12.24% to $51.46 in pre-market trading as of 6.44 a.m. ET, putting it on track for a major move at the opening bell. Tesla stock was down 0.96%, meanwhile.
Musk's explained the rationale behind his move in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange.
"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," he said.
"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. As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash."
He told shareholders: "Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it."
