(CNN) –– Twitter accepted that Elon Musk buy the company in a deal valued at about $44 billion, the company said Monday.
The deal caps off a breakneck news cycle in which the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX became one of Twitter’s largest shareholders, was offered and declined a seat on its board of directors, and ultimately offered to buy the company, all in less than a month.
The deal comes after Musk revealed last week that he had secured $46.5 billion in financing to acquire the company. Twitter’s board of directors met on Sunday to assess Musk’s offer.
Musk said on Twitter Monday that “I hope even my worst critics stay on Twitter, because that’s what free speech means.”
The deal would put the world’s richest man in charge of one of the world’s most influential social media platforms. Musk has repeatedly emphasized in recent days that his goal is to bolster free speech on the platform and work to “unlock” Twitter’s “extraordinary potential.”
“I invested in Twitter because I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the world, and I believe that free speech is a social imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk said in his offer letter to Twitter. . “However, since making my investment, I now realize that the company will not prosper or meet this social imperative in its current form. Twitter must be transformed into a private company.”
In the days after Musk’s offer, Twitter’s board of directors implemented the call poison pill that would make it difficult for Musk to acquire the company without his approval. There were also questions about whether the company would try to find another buyer.
Twitter stock quote by Elon Musk
Twitter shares rose nearly 6% after the deal was announced, hovering around $51.84, just shy of the offer price.
CFRA’s principal equity analyst Angelo Zino said on Monday that Twitter’s board taking Musk’s offer more seriously may be explained by “the board realizing that an alternative offer … may be hard to come by, especially after the drop in social media company asset prices in recent weeks/months.”
CNN’s Brian Stelter contributed to this report.