BEIJING, April 26 (TMTPOST) — Veteran entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk has struck a deal with the Board of Twitter to acquire the social media company for US$44 billion in cash.

Twitter’s Board has agreed to a takeover bid from Musk, which prices each Twitter share at US$54.20.

Musk said in a series of Tweets that he hopes Twitter can continue to be a platform where everyone is entitled to sharing their differing opinions. In addition, Musk also expressed the intention to publicize Twitter’s algorithms in content recommendations. Musk also called for a series of changes on Twitter from relaxing its content restrictions to eradicating fake accounts.

"I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans," he said on Twitter. "Twitter has tremendous potential - I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it."

Musk has not publicly explained whether he would make Twitter resume former U.S. President Donald Trump’s account. Trump’s Twitter account was banned by the platform after the Capitol Hill riot on January 6, 2021, as the platform believed Trump encouraged his followers to “take over the Capitol Hill” and incited violence.

Trump stated that he would not return to Twitter even if his account is reactivated. 

Musk’s acquisition of Twitter was celebrated by the right-wing in the United States as he is considered an ally who wishes to ensure the “freedom of speech” in the country. When Trump’s account on Twitter was banned, Musk had stated on social media that “a lot of people are going to be super unhappy with West Coast high tech as the de facto arbiter of free speech."

The White House declined to comment on the takeover.