Dogecoin Spikes as Elon Musk Plots Twitter Takeover

After acquiring a 9.2% stake in Twitter earlier this month, Elon Musk has offered to buy a 100% stake in the social media giant for $54.20 per share in cash. Dogecoin, the meme coin that Musk has championed for some time, has spiked by 5% on the news.

Dogecoin Pumps as Musk Mulls Twitter Buyout 

Elon Musk wants to unlock Twitter’s “extraordinary potential.”

In a letter filed to the chairman of the board at Twitter, Bret Taylor, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has offered to buy the social media company at a hefty premium and take it private. “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,” the letter said.

“My offer is my best and final offer,” Musk said, adding that Twitter had “extraordinary potential” that he plans to unlock by taking the company private. According to Musk, taking the company private is the only way to ensure Twitter can serve as a beacon of free speech.

On Apr. 4, the wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of around $276 billion made headlines after acquiring a 9.2% stake in Twitter for an estimated $2.89 billion, in turn becoming the company’s largest individual shareholder. The following day, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced that Musk would be joining the company’s board, before Musk changed his mind on the arrangement. Had he joined, he would have been limited to owning a 14.9% stake in the company. 

Dogecoin, the meme cryptocurrency that Musk has endorsed on numerous occasions, spiked when the news of Musk’s 9.2% stake surfaced, rallying from around 14 to 17 cents on rumors that it could be integrated with the social media platform. In a now-deleted Twitter post, Musk had proposed that the company should incorporate Dogecoin for Twitter Blue payments, which likely caused the temporary rally.

Dogecoin surged as the news of Musk’s 100% buyout offer emerged, rising from around 13.8 to 14.6. Despite Musk’s heavy endorsement, the meme coin is currently trading 80% down from its May 2021 all-time high price of 73 cents. 

Twitter confirmed Musk’s offer in a press release today, saying that its board of directors would “carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company and all Twitter stockholders.”

Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron blockchain, seems intent on one-upping Musk’s offer, countering it with a proposal to buy Twitter for $60 a share. “I believe Twitter is far from unleashing its full potential, thus I am offering $60 per share to take the platform private,” he said earlier today on Twitter, adding he’s fully supporting Musk’s reform initiatives.