- A self-proclaimed Twitter investor mocked Elon Musk in a letter posted on the social-media site Tuesday.
- Leonidas Raisini offered to buy Twitter for $14.3 billion — $30 billion less than Musk paid.
- The letter borrowed phrasing Musk used in his acquisition pitch to Twitter's board.
A self-proclaimed Twitter investor appeared to mock new owner Elon Musk by offering to $4
Self-styled "angel investor" Leonidas Raisini $4 in the letter, posted to Twitter on Tuesday, that he was bidding to buy the company for $14.26 billion, or $18.53 per share, claiming to have secured funding for a deal. He provided no evidence of funding.
The letter included some of the same phrasing $4, the then-chair of Twitter's board, when he offered to buy the company in April 2022.
Here's what Musk said in his letter to Taylor:
I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.
However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.
As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced. My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.
Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.
This is what Raisini's letter said:
Before you acquired Twitter, I had invested in Twitter as I believed in its potential to be the platform for free speech, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.
However, since you acquired Twitter, you have not kept your promise of free speech and Twitter has become a breeding ground for online hate and terrorism. I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form under its current owner. Twitter needs to be transformed as a public company where members will become its owners. Together these members form the governing body of Twitter and under a leadership that can respect Free Speech without spreading disinformation and hatred.
Together with my partners, my fund has secured the funding to buy Twitter.
As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $18.53 per share in cash (14.26 Billion), as I do not consider the current valuation of $41.09 Billion to be accurate. My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder and inform my fund to withdraw my investment.
Twitter has super extraordinary potential. I am the right one to unlock it.
Musk bought Twitter in October for $44 billion following a tumultuous legal battle with the company. Musk has said that his aims for the site include a focus on free speech and a crackdown on bot accounts, which he claimed ran rampant. He took the company private, saying the changes he wanted to make wouldn't be possible in a public company.
But since Musk took over, Twitter has $4, faced an exodus of advertisers and celebrities using the site, and has allegedly seen a spike in hate speech. His leadership has been criticized by journalists, experts, Twitter staff, and the public alike.
Musk said in December that $4 "as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job."
According to his $4 and $4 accounts, as well as his $4, Raisini is a music producer and DJ who has been an investor at companies including Apple, Tesla, and Virgin Galactic. Insider has not been able to independently verify these claims and was not able to reach Raisini despite numerous attempts.
Raisini's eponymous company $4 that, among other things, it represents and books celebrities, listing Afrojack, Steve Aoki, Martin Garrix, and David Guetta as examples.
Raisini has been a vocal critic of Musk. In a $4 in November, Raisini called him a "pathological liar, a charlatan and a Super Villain."
Raisini's letter to Musk features the letterhead of Raisini Ltd, a London-based company. $4, the British government's register of companies, lists the business as dormant. Raisini Ltd did not respond to multiple attempts by Insider to reach it for comment.