Elon Musk has an agreement to acquire Twitter for about $44B

TOM KRISHER and MATT O’BRIEN
Associated Press

Billionaire Elon Musk has reached an agreement to acquire Twitter for approximately $44 billion, the company said. The outspoken Tesla CEO, the world’s wealthiest person, has said he wants to buy Twitter because he thinks it’s not living up to its potential as a platform for “free speech.” He says it needs to be transformed as a private company in order to build trust with users and do better at serving what he calls the “societal imperative” of free speech. Twitter said it will become a privately held company after the sale is closed.