Musk’s offer for Twitter is a 54 per cent premium over the share price the day before he began investing in the company in late January. But Twitter’s shares traded higher than Musk’s bid for much of last year.

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Several analysts have said they expected Twitter’s board to only accept a bid that valued it at a minimum of $US60 a share. Twitter’s stock rose above $US70 a share last year when the company announced goals to double its revenue, but it has since fallen to around $US48 as investors have questioned its ability to meet those targets.

Musk, 50, has made clear that he sees many deficiencies in Twitter as a social media service. He has said that he wants to “transform” the company as a “platform for free speech around the globe” and that it requires vast improvements in its product and policies.

Musk has tried to negotiate with Twitter using the service itself, threatening in several tweets that he might take his bid directly to the company’s shareholders in what is called a “tender offer.” A tender offer is a hostile manouevre in which an outside party circumvents a company’s board by asking shareholders to sell their shares directly to them.

He has also acted erratically on the platform, raising concerns over how he might manage the service should he be in charge of it. On Saturday, Musk took aim at billionaire Bill Gates because Gates had taken a “short” position on the stock of Tesla, which meant that Gates was betting the carmaker’s shares would fall. On Sunday, Musk tweeted that he was “moving on” from making fun of Gates.

Even so, Musk maintains amicable ties with some high-ranking members of Twitter. Over the weekend, Musk traded friendly tweets with Jack Dorsey, company co-founder and a board member. Dorsey stepped down as Twitter’s CEO in November and soon will be leaving its board.

Both men share similar views on cryptocurrencies and on promoting more free speech online. When Musk briefly flirted with joining Twitter’s board this month, Dorsey tweeted, “I’m really happy Elon is joining the Twitter board! He cares deeply about our world and Twitter’s role in it.”

On Friday, Block, a financial services company led by Dorsey, disclosed he had changed his title at the firm from CEO to “Block Head.” That shift appeared to resonate with Musk.

“Your new title at Block is fire,” Musk tweeted at Dorsey on Saturday, using two flame emoji to signify his approval. Last year, Musk had changed his title at Tesla from CEO to technoking.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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