As part of his $44 billion purchase of Twitter, Elon Musk agreed to take the social media company private, however, that won't be permanent.
Musk told some potential investors that it may only be a few years before he takes Twitter public again, and aims to do so in "as little as three years of buying it," people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.
The Tesla CEO reached an agreement to buy Twitter on April 25 for $54.20 a share, and is expected to finalize the deal at some point this year.
Musk is paying a 38% premium on the stock's closing price from April 1, which was prior to when he announced owning about 9% of the company.
Musk is planning to spend $21 billion of his own money to purchase the social media company, and could spend a little less as he has been recently speaking to private-equity firms, including Apollo Global Management Inc., to potentially join in on the deal, per The Wall Street Journal. The remainder of the money to complete the deal will come from loans.
He reportedly reassured Twitter by getting outside funds to join in on the deal, and the two sides were then able to reach an agreement at his initial offer of $54.20 a share.
Taking Twitter private will allow Musk to quietly improve the company's operations, and is commonly done by private-equity firms before they are taken back to a public company within about five years.
In a statement announcing the deal, Musk expressed his goal of bringing free speech to Twitter, while also improving security features on the platform.
"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk said. "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.
"Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it."
Bret Taylor, Twitter's Independent Board Chair, said in the statement that Musk's purchase "is the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders."
"The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon's proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing," Taylor said. "The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders."
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