.. .Timeline Of Elon Musk And Twitter Deal
…Fires Twitter CEO, CFO, others
…Security personnel escort sacked executives out of Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters
…Elon Musk says “Bird is freed” but EU warns freed “Bird will fly by our rules.”
…Plans Elon Musk has for Twitter
… Twitter to be delisted from New York Stock Exchange Friday
How does Elon Musk plan to run Twitter? Who got sacked and who may still be sacked? What about the timeline of the deal and what else may happen? Well, these and many more are questions some people are still asking about the fate of Twitter now that Elon has bought the company.
First, the gist:
Elon Musk said on Thursday the 27th of October, 2022, when he completed the buy-off deal for $44 billion that he is not buying Twitter to make money but to help humanity whom he loves.
He said he did not buy Twitter to make more money but “to try to help humanity, whom I love.”
So, the long back-and-forth tussle between the world’s richest billionaire and the Micro-blogging site finally came to an end as Musk finally completed the $44 billion deal, buying the tech platform for good.
With this deal, Musk is now the legal owner of Twitter!
Musk fires Twitter CEO, CFO, others:
But Musk did not close the buy-off deal without actually pulling an affront.
In fact, the Space X owner immediately fired top executives at Twitter – those he feels are his enemies in the company- like Twitter CEO, Parag Agrawal; Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Ned Segal; and the legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde.
Why Elon Musk Sacked CEO, CFO, Policy Officer:
According Musk, he sacked these top executives because they misled him and Twitter investors on the number of fake accounts that Twitter has.
After sacking them, Elon Musk said that “the bird is freed.”
Not without the European Union (EU) equally warning, while reacting to the deal closure, that the freed “bird will fly by our rules.”
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The EU is notifying Musk that the bird “Twitter” which he said he has freed must operate in obedience of the EU rules guiding tech operations in the union.
According to the EU industry chief Thierry Breton, “In Europe, the bird will fly by our EU rules.”
He twitted this on Friday while reacting to the news of Musk buying Twitter.
Now that Elon Musk has freed the bird, what plans does he have for Twitter?
Plans Elon Musk Has For Twitter:
- Recall that Musk had accused the bird’s app of restricting free speech as the World’s “Town Hall” space.
Well, one of his plans for Twitter is to make the platform uphold free speech.
Consequently, the billionaire said that he will bring free speech to the platform and also make Twitter uphold free speech.
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Elon Musk wants to become Twitter’s CEO.
Elon Musk twitted shortly before completing the deal that he has become Twitter’s “Chief Twit.”
This means he has become the platform’s chief executive – the CEO.
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Musk plans to stop permanent bans on Twitter:
Recall that Twitter banned indefinitely, former president of the United States, Donald Trump, from using the app.
🚀💫♥️ Yesss!!! ♥️💫🚀 pic.twitter.com/0T9HzUHuh6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
However, when Musk entered the deal to buy Twitter, he said Twitter was unfair in banning Trump indefinitely.
Instead, he said Twitter can suspend a user as a warning for flouting its terms and conditions.
So, now that Musk has bought the platform, one of his plans for Twitter is to abolish the indefinite banning of users on the platform.
Meanwhile, this is not to say that Musk wants Twitter to become a platform where anybody can come and say anything.
In fact, while trying to douse fears from employees who thought that Musk would layoff many employees, the Space X CEO said employees and advertisers should not mind his former criticisms of Twitter’s content moderation rules.
He said, “Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!”
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Defeating Spam bots/ fake accounts:
Another plan that Elon Musk has for Twitter is bringing an end to spam bots or fake accounts.
Musk wants to give real value to investors and advertisers on Twitter by ensuring that ads display to real human users on the platforms who can actually be influenced into taking actions in favour of the displayed ads instead of displaying to bots that are not useful to advertisers.
- Another plan that the billionaire also has for the micro-blogging site is making publicly available the algorithms that determine how content is presented to Twitter users.
Musk wants to make Twitter algorithms open source, meaning anybody can build on the platform.
The billionaire said he envisions Twitter as a base where other creators can create “super app” for fund transfers and shopping.
He also said that Twitter could support ride-hailing. This means that people can book rides directly on Twitter.
Timeline Of Elon Musk And Twitter Deal:
First, Elon Musk had aways loved tweeting. In fact, he garnered very large followers on the app, especially as he frequently tweeted jokes on the platform.
However, Musk and Twitter decided to begin the buy-off deal way back in March, 2022, when he began buying stakes in the company. Though Musk had always had the idea of actually owning the platform.
In fact, he had twitted in agreement while responding to a Twitter user who had suggested to him to buy Twitter. So, it became a dream being actualized when he entered the deal to buy off Twitter.
To put actions to words, Musk become the largest Twitter’s shareholder and so, wanted to be on the company’s board.
On April 4, Musk disclosed a 9.2% Twitter stake to become the largest shareholder.
After being the largest shareholder, he opted to join the company’s board.
However, before this could be perfected, Musk quashed the idea of joining Twitter’s board.
Instead, he decided to buy the company and own it, instead of just being on the board.
He therefore offered to buy the company at $54.20 per share. This offer was not initially accepted by Twitter.
This was because, Twitter board thought the billionaire was joking. But it turned out not to be a joke.
In order to sure-proof the deal, Twitter launched what it called the “poison pill” which held that Musk would pay the company $1 billion should he decide to opt out of the deal before its completion. Musk agreed to this terms and condition.
So, in March, the journey began gradually.
Musk became happy and frequently tweeted about the changes he believed should come to Twitter.
He had several meetings with the board as well as with the then CEO,
Parag Agrawal . But his meetings with Agrawal was like that of cat and mouse, as both men disagreed on the state and plans for the company.
Consequently, both men became enemies bound together on a balance by Twitter. So, anger and dissatisfaction crept into the deal.
So, soon after the deal was struck, Musk, who did not equally conduct due diligence on the company before entering the deal, began a back-and-forth decision to either buy or not when he discovered bots accounts on the platform could be more than the company had told him.
Agrawal had told him that the bots accounts on Twitter did not exceed 5% but Musk had reasons to doubt this. He was not convinced. Instead, he conducted his own independent investigation and found that the fake accounts on the platform could actually be way more than the 5%.
This means bad business for him, or so he thought.
Consequently, the Space X founder, through his lawyers, accused Twitter of misleading him by not being very truthful on the number of fake accounts Twitter has.
Meanwhile, by this time, Twitter’s share price value had gone down, further fuelling Musk’s reasons for opting out of the deal.
Specifically on July 8, 2022, Musk said he was terminating the deal.
But Twitter filed a counter suit to force Musk to complete the buy-off deal.
Twitter argued that Mr Musk’s agreement to buy the company was legally binding. The company said opting out of the deal at this time is no longer an option for the billionaire.
As the case lingered, Twitter’s lawyers were to depose Musk on October 4, 2022.
But, before that day, Musk suddenly made another U-Turn, this time, saying he wanted to finally complete the deal.
He said as further precondition, he offered for out-of-court settlement which Twitter agreed.
So, he finally completed the deal, making Twitter a private company and no longer a public one.
This means that Twitter shares would no longer be available for anyone to buy and own. When people buy and own shares with Twitter, they have the opportunity to make decisions about Twitter.
However, making Twitter to become a private company removes this opportunity to buy and own Twitter shares.
So, only Musk and his partner investors will own Twitter henceforth.
Consequently, Twitter would be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, 28th October, 2022.
This was after Twitter shares ended trade on Thursday on 0.3% and at $53.86 a share.
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