Musk sweetens offer for remaining stake at Twitter saying will take USD 0 salary

New York [US], April 18 (ANI/Sputnik): Billionaire businessman Elon Musk declared on Monday that he will not take a penny in salary if appointed to Twitter's board of directors, unofficially sweetening his takeover bid for the remaining stake in the company that he said he hopes to turn into a model for free speech.
"Board salary will be USD 0 if my bid succeeds, so that's ~USD 3 million/year saved right there," Musk wrote on Twitter in response to user Gary Black's series of tweets examining Musk's USD 43 billion offer to buy out all of the company traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Musk's bid prices Twitter at USD 54.20 per share, at least 17 per cent higher than the USD 46.18 it traded at the time of this writing. On April 4, he bought a 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter at USD 49.97 per share, or almost USD 3 billion, making him then the largest shareholder.
Musk, who has called himself a "free speech absolutist" and is one of Twitter's most-prolific users, has said his main concern is with the social media platform's content moderation policies. In March, he tweeted out a poll that asked users whether the site, which has banned numerous persons, including former president Donald Trump, adhered to the principle of free speech.
Twitter's board of directors has actively said it will veto Musk's bid, described by Saudi Prince Alwaleed, who is also a substantial shareholder in the company, as being below value. The board has also expressed concern about how Musk will finance the offer, with the billionaire not revealing any details on that as yet.
Black, the Twitter user who has been examining Musk's offer, raised the same point on Monday.
"Hard for USD TWTR investors to take @elonmusk USD 54.20 bid seriously until he provides details of how he intends to finance his bid. USD TWTR -1.4 per cent to USD 44.50, now 18 per cent below Elon's bid," Black, managing partner at investment advisory The Future Fund, said.
However, Black also noted that the interests of Twitter's board members did not seem aligned with that of its shareholders.
"The board serves to represent shareholders. If they refuse to act in the best interest of shareholders, they should be removed and replaced by new board members who understand their fiduciary obligations," he said.
Some analysts who have studied Musk's bid flag concerns for both sides, saying Musk could revolutionize Twitter's free-speech model against the will of its board and use his influence on the platform to silence criticism against decisions he makes at his electric car manufacturing company Tesla and his other businesses. (ANI/Sputnik)