Elon Musk will buy Twitter in a cash deal valued at $44 billion, the social media company announced Monday afternoon. Twitter shareholders will be paid $54.20 per share when the transaction closes, which represents Musk’s “best and final offer” made less than two weeks ago.

“Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company,” Musk has said, adding, “I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe.”

The agreement to sell to Musk wraps a tumultuous month for Twitter that started when the world’s richest man revealed he took a 9% stake in the company. Twitter said the financial offer represents a 38% premium from the share price the day before that stake was disclosed.

“The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal,” Twitter Board Chairman Bret Taylor said in a statement. “And we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.”

“Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” said Musk, who has railed against the platform over free speech concerns and private algorithms. “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.”

I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022

Twitter reported the board’s decision to sell to Musk was unanimous after reviewing his financials for the deal, noting that there are no financing conditions that could stand in the way. The company expects the acquisition will close in 2022, subject to shareholder approval.

Musk is an active user of the platform with more than 83 million followers. He is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, as well as the founder of Neuralink and The Boring Company.