Twitter announced Monday it has accepted Elon Musk's offer to be purchased for $44 billion.

The social media company said in a statement that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Musk, in which Twitter stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each common stock they own.

"The purchase price represents a 38% premium to Twitter's closing stock price on April 1, 2022, which was the last trading day before Mr. Musk disclosed his approximately 9% stake in Twitter," the statement said.

Twitter will become a privately held company after the deal is closed.

Trading of Twitter shares were briefly halted in the S&P 500 on the New York Stock Exchange during mid-day session amid a pending purchase agreement.

The announcement came after Twitter's Board of Directors met Sunday to discuss Musk's offer.

"The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon's proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing," Twitter's Independent Board Chair Bret Taylor said in the statement. "The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders."

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said that the company has "a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world."

While many Twitter users raised a loud outcry on social media amid the purchase deal, Musk tried to reassure them by saying the agreement would not affect the company nor its policies.

"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 the statement.

"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. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it," he added.

Entrepreneur and business magnate Musk, the founder of electric carmaker Tesla and space exploration company SpaceX, announced on April 4 that he bought a 9.2% share in Twitter, becoming the social media platform’s biggest investor.

Musk was exploring a tender offer to buy Twitter, as he received a $46.5 billion commitment for the deal, according to a securities filing released Thursday./aa