Elon Musk

The richest man in the world agreed a $NZ70 billion takeover bid with the Twitter board last month.

But he said it was not a done deal and that ideally it would be completed in the next two to three months.

Twitter's decision to ban the former US president was "morally wrong and flat-out stupid", Musk told the Financial Times Future of the Car summit.

In January 2021, Twitter said Trump's account was "permanently suspended ... due to the risk of further incitement of violence" following the storming of the Capitol.

Musk, who made the shock bid less than two weeks ago, has claimed he is the right person to "unlock" the social media firm's "extraordinary potential".

He has suggested a series of changes from relaxing its content restrictions to eradicating fake accounts.

The firm initially rebuffed Musk's bid, but it will now ask shareholders to vote to approve the deal.

In a surprise announcement, Musk said he would pay $54.20 a share for Twitter, valuing it at about $41b.

It recently emerged that Musk was Twitter's biggest shareholder after he built up a large stake in the firm.

He said that if his offer was not accepted: "I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder".

A filing with the US financial regulator appeared to show text and/or voice messages from Musk to Twitter's board, showing that he had raised the idea at the weekend that the business should go private.

The ultimate aim of Musk's 73.5 million share purchase worth $2.9 billion, based on the closing price Friday, is not clear. Yet in recent weeks Musk, who has 80 million Twitter followers and posts there often, has questioned free speech on Twitter and whether the platform is undermining democracy.

The regulatory filing Monday describes Musk as a long-term investor looking to minimize his buying and selling of the shares.

It comes days after he asked his 63 million Twitter followers whether he should sell 10% of his stake in Tesla.

The company's shares fell by around 16% in the two days after the poll came out in favour of him selling shares, before regaining some ground on Wednesday.

Tesla is the world's most valuable carmaker, with a stock market valuation of more than $1tn.

Mr Musk sold more than 930,000 shares in the company, about 0.5% of his stake, according to filings with the US stock market regulator.

The 49-year-old told viewers he was "the first person with Asperger's" to host the long-running programme - to loud cheers from the audience.

People with Asperger's interpret the environment around them differently to other people.

It is thought to be the first time Mr Musk has spoken about his condition.

The tech boss was guest hosting the sketch show - a coveted role that has been filled by an array of celebrities since SNL's inception in the 1970s. These include Adele, Chris Rock, Ringo Starr, and Will Ferrell.

Its brain signals were sent wirelessly via an implanted device.

The hope is that the interface could eventually allow people with neurological conditions to control phones or computers remotely.

One expert said the fact no wires were used represented "significant progress", but more data was needed.

The macaque monkey, named Pager, was first taught to play the video game with a joystick, and was rewarded with a fruit smoothie.

During this process, the Neuralink device recorded the information about which neurons were firing to control which movements.

The Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur was pushed into the top slot after Tesla's share price increased on Thursday.

He takes the top spot from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who had held it since 2017.

Musk's electric car company Tesla has surged in value this year, and hit a market value of $700bn (NZ$964bn) for the first time on Wednesday.

That makes the car company worth more than Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, GM and Ford combined.

Musk reacted to the news in signature style, replying to a Twitter user sharing the news with the remark "how strange".

The entrepreneur made the pledge as he announced an improved microchip for its driverless vehicles.

Mr Musk told investors he expected regulators to approve ride-hailing in some areas for autonomous vehicles.

He added: "I feel very confident in predicting autonomous robotaxis next year."

Mr Musk said he expected the scheme to operate on a model similar to that of Uber or Airbnb.

The company unveiled computer hardware for what it said was "full self-driving" capabilities in the form of the new microchip.

During a speech at a TED Talks conference, Musk -- the Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX CEO -- unveiled what he hopes to accomplish with his latest venture, The Boring Company.