Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk took aim at Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) with a $43 billion cash takeover offer on Thursday, with the Tesla CEO saying the social media company needs to be taken private to grow and become a platform for free speech.

“I think it’s very important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech,” Musk, already San Francisco-based Twitter’s second-largest shareholder, said at a TED Talk in Vancouver when asked about his bid.

Musk made the bid on Wednesday in a letter to the board of Twitter – the micro-blogging platform that has become a global means of communication for individuals and world leaders – and it was made public in a regulatory filing on Thursday. His offer price of $54.20 per share represents a 38% premium to Twitter’s April 1 close, the last trading day before his 9.1% stake in the social media platform was made public.

Musk, the world’s richest person with a $273.6 billion fortune according to a Forbes tally, rejected an invitation to join Twitter’s board on Saturday after disclosing his stake, a move analysts said signaled his takeover intentions as a board seat would have limited his shareholding to just under 15%.

After his TED talk, Musk hinted at the possibility of a hostile bid in which he would bypass Twitter’s board and put the offer directly to its shareholders, tweeting: “It would be utterly indefensible not to put this offer to a shareholder vote.”

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Musk, for his part, told Twitter it was his “best and final offer” and said he would reconsider his investment if the board rejects it.

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“My strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive, is extremely important to the future of civilization,” Musk added.

Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” has been critical of the social media platform and its policies, and recently ran a poll on Twitter asking users if they believed it adheres to the principle of free speech. More than 70% of the 2 million votes cast said “No”.

After Twitter banned former President Donald Trump over concerns around incitement of violence following last year’s U.S. Capitol attack by his supporters, Musk tweeted: “A lot of people are going to be super unhappy with West Coast high tech as the de facto arbiter of free speech.”

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Twitter employees, some of whom were panicked over Musk’s impact on its ability to moderate content, attended an all-hands meeting on Thursday. Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal reassured them that the company was not being “held hostage” by news of Musk’s offer to buy the company, according to a source.

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Twitter’s lower-than-expected user additions in recent months have raised doubts about its growth prospects, even as it pursues big projects such as audio chat rooms and newsletters.

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