Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal rebuked African American billionaire Elon Musk’s offer to buy out Twitter’s shareholders for a total of $34 billion, saying it does not match the “intrinsic value” of the platform. The Saudi Arabian royal owns 5.2% of Twitter.
This morning Musk’s offer to buy Twitter for around $34 billion and take the company private came as an unpleasant surprise for bin Talal, who rejected the offer outright on Twitter.
Perhaps indicating an interest in negotiation, the prince specifically noted that Musk’s price was unacceptable in his tweet.
“I don’t believe that the proposed offer from @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of @Twitter given its growth prospects,” he tweeted. He then noted that he is “one of the largest and long-term shareholders” of the company, and rejected Musk’s offer.
I don't believe that the proposed offer by @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of @Twitter given its growth prospects.
Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, @Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer.https://t.co/Jty05oJUTk pic.twitter.com/XpNHUAL6UX
— الوليد بن طلال (@Alwaleed_Talal) April 14, 2022
The prince raised eyebrows in October of 2015 when he expanded his interests from 21.86 to 34.9 million shares of the company after originally investing $300 million in 2011. His shares amount to 5.2% of the company’s stock.
At the time, it was widely reported that the prince owned more Twitter stock than its founder and then-CEO Jack Dorsey, who owned 3.2% at the time.
With Musk’s proposed price of $54.20 per share, the prince would receive nearly $2 billion from Musk’s buyout.
Musk’s offer also raised eyebrows elsewhere in the tech sector, with free speech social media site Gab offering the Tesla founder a spot on its board and a stake in the company along with the opportunity to build “a free speech Internet” built on Gab’s infrastructure and the Starlink satellite Internet service provider.
At press time, Twitter is scheduled to enter an “all hands” employee meeting to discuss Musk’s offer to buy Twitter. At the same time, Musk made a surprise appearance at a TED Talk event that began its live stream only an hour before Twitter’s meeting was set to begin.
