How Tesla chief Elon Musk acquired Twitter. Read inside story of $44 billion deal

Twitter is on its way to become a privately held company as Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion on Monday. “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 in a tweet.

Here is all you need to know about the $44 billion deal

1) The deal was cemented roughly two weeks after the billionaire first revealed a 9% stake in the platform. 

2) Musk said last week that he had lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter, putting pressure on the company’s board to negotiate a deal.

3) Twitter said Musk secured $25.5 billion of debt and margin loan financing and is providing a $21 billion equity commitment.

4) Twitter said the transaction was unanimously approved by its board of directors and is expected to close in 2022, pending regulatory sign-off and the approval of shareholders.

5) "Once the deal closes, we don't know which direction the platform will go," Twitter's chief executive, Parag Agrawal, told employees on Monday.

6) Shares of Twitter Inc. rose more than 5% Monday to $51.70 per share. 

7)On April 14, Musk announced an offer to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share.

8) Earlier this month, a day after Musk had revealed his purchase intentions, Twitter had adopted a limited duration shareholder rights plan, or the poison pill

9) Musk, who is worth $268 billion according to Forbes, has said he is not primarily concerned with the economics of Twitter. "Having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization. I don't care about the economics at all," he said in a recent public talk.

10) "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means," the Tesla CEO wrote ahead of the deal reveal.

-With agency inputs