Twitter Inc shares jumped more than 5% and closed at $51.70 on reports that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has agreed to pay $44 billion in cash for the social media platform, which is used by millions of people and the world leaders. Following the announcement of the acquisition, Wall Street reversed direction, with the Nasdaq ending significantly higher.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day up 0.7% at 34,049.46 points, while the S&P 500 jumped 0.57% to 4,296.12. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.29% to 13,004.85.

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Musk would pay $54.20 per share in cash for Twitter, a 38% premium to the stock’s closing price on April 1, the day before Musk revealed his 9% stake in the social media company.

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Twitter will become a privately held firm once the acquisition is completed, which is scheduled to happen this year.

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“The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing,” said Bret Taylor, Twitter’s independent board chair. 

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“The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders,” he added.

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Musk has secured $25.5 billion of fully committed debt and margin loan financing and is providing approximately $21 billion equity commitment, Twitter said.

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“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. 

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“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 spambots, and authenticating all humans,” he added.

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The timing of the acquisition may have been influenced by Twitter’s upcoming earnings report, which is set to be released on Thursday. According to FactSet, analysts expect Twitter to earn 5 cents per share on $1.23 billion in revenue in the first quarter. Twitter made 16 cents per share on $1.04 billion in revenue a year ago.

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The stock of Twitter has increased more than 13% this year, including roughly 7% since Musk announced his bid.