Elon Musk is already CEO of Tesla and SpaceX , father of The Boring Company , and the populace ’s richest soul . Today he adds another title to his prodigious bio : Owner of Twitter .
On Monday afternoonTwitter announcedthat it has entered into a definitive concord to be develop by Musk in a dealing value at about $ 44 billion . Once the dealing is complete , Twitter will become a privately held company .
Musk crow about the acquirement — on Twitter , naturally — by reposting his own words from the crush release announce the deal :
This man is now an online arbiter of “free speech”.Photo:HANNIBAL HANSCHKE /Contributor(Getty Images)
🚀 💫 ♥ ️ Yesss ! ! ! ♥ ️ 💫 🚀 pic.twitter.com/0T9HzUHuh6
— Elon Musk ( @elonmusk)April 25 , 2022
In an all staff meeting on Monday at 2 promethium Pacific time , there were reportedly more questions than substantial , foresighted - term answer . Alex Heath , a technical school newsperson for The Verge , tweetedthat a informant tell him Parag Agrawal will remain Twitter CEO , at least for the next six month until the deal with Musk conclude . This was confirm inanother tweetby Bloomberg tech reporter , Kurt Wagner . Further , Agrawal also announced at the meeting that there would be no layoffs “ at this prison term . ” Heath tweeted that Agrawal ’s closing statement was , “ we do n’t have all the answers . This is a full stop of precariousness . ”
The tweets that started it all.Screenshot: Gizmodo (Other)
Musk ’s accomplishment also means Twitter will in all likelihood no longer be governed by its existing board , and will no longer be publically traded . “ Twitter take to be transformed as a secret company , ” Musk antecedently said in anSEC filing .
The leverage followsweeks of posturingby Musk and back - and - forth conversations between the billionaire and the Twitter dining table .
Why did Elon Musk buy Twitter?
Musk ’s is both a frequent drug user of Twitter , and one of its most outspoken critic . On March 25,Musk tweeted that“free speech is essential to a operate democracy , ” along with a yes / no poll ask his followers if they “ believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this precept . ” In a 2d tweet he hinted at big intentions and stated , “ the issue of this poll will be important . Please vote carefully . ” With more than 2 million voter turnout , the final poll upshot was 70.4 % “ No ” to 29.6 % “ Yes . ”
A Clarence Shepard Day Jr. later , intwo more tweets , Musk said , “ give that Twitter serves as the de facto public town public square , fail to adhere to free actor’s line principle basically weaken commonwealth . What should be done ? ” and “ Is a unexampled platform needed ? ”
( It ’s of import to direct out here that Twitter actually hasnotably lax content moderationcompared to other social media chopine . And that even less oversight could lead the land site to become even more of ahub for disinformationandbot - manufacturedextremist movements . )
On April 4 , the world’smost terminally onlinebillionaire annunciate that he had purchased 9.2 % of Twitter ’s neckcloth shares , becomingthe individual expectant stakeholderin the caller . He also tweet out another yes / no public opinion poll the same day , inquire followers , “ do you want an edit push ? ” Though Musk actually purchased the strain on March 24 , he did n’t file away the ask SEC paperwork declare the acquisition until 10 days by and by .
The next twenty-four hours , April 5 , Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced thatMusk would be appointedto the societal medium company ’s circuit board of director . Backlash from Twitter employees as well as good deal of other people on the net instigate the platform tohost an AMA(ask me anything ) with the South African , Apartheid - era , emerald heir . And , just solar day afterward , on April 11,the mass fall down through . Musk ended up not join Twitter ’s board , probably after get a line that becoming a add-in penis would prevent him from acquiring more than a 14.9 % stake in the company .
Once it became remove the Dogecoin pioneer would no longer become a Twitter plank penis , Agrawal said , “ I consider this is for the best,”in a statementdirected to the rest of the board . chirrup investor Marc Rasella filed a lawsuit against Musk on April 12 forfailure to disclosehis 9.2 % leverage quickly enough .
Then , on April 13 , Musk filedpaperwork with the SECdeclaring his intention tobuy 100%of Twitter at $ 52.40 per share in cash . He threatened that if his offer was not consent , he would offload all of his 9.2 % stake , efficaciously crashing the ship’s company ’s stock . “ My crack is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted , I would need to reconsider my position as a stockholder , ” he said in Exhibit B of the SEC filing . “Twitter has extraordinary potential . I will unlock it , ” he ominously added .
But nonetheless , Musk persisted . Twitter ’s board enter negotiations with Musk on April 24 . Between the promulgation of those dialogue and Musk ’s final leverage of the societal medium internet site , Dogecoin value roseby almost 9%and the breed tied to Former President Donald Trump ’s social media venture , Truth , tanked by morethan 5 % . Trump found the sparsely used platform after he was for good ostracize from Twitter . And , if Twitter un - does bans like his , there will beeven lessof a reason for “ Truth ” to subsist .
Around noonday on Monday , Musktweeted , “ I hope that even my bad critics remain on Twitter because that is what loose speech mean . ” Which , to be clear , is not what the First Amendment rightfulness to exemption of speech means . Nobody in the U.S. has aconstitutional right to tweetor otherwise brand on secret societal media weapons platform .
Musk is in good company with his misunderstanding . Florida Governor , Ron DeSantis , alsodoesn’t seem to graspthe definition of costless speech . On Monday , hetweeted out , “ @elonmusk ’s offering to buy Twitter is a good deal for shareholders and raises the prospect that the platform will be a place where free spoken communication can prosper , not a tool for narration enforcement . ”
What is likely to change once Elon Musk owns Twitter?
In the immediate : Twitter Inc. is in a code - freeze , not allowing product or weapons platform updates unless , “ job - critical , ” according to unidentified sources quoted ina reportby Bloomberg . This mean that company employee are , for the time being , unable to change anything about the site without approval from a vice president . The move is a protective one , meant to prevent wild workers from “ going varlet , ” Bloomberg reported .
Longer term , although the edit clit tweet and Musk ’s stress on unmoderated “ free speech ” jot at his idealistic Twitter - verse , it ’s unknown exactly how the political program might change under his tutelage . Neither Twitter nor Musk straight off responded to Gizmodo ’s request for comment .
Musk has repeatedly identified those “ spam bot ” as one of his focuses for the company :
If our twitter bidding succeeds , we will defeat the junk e-mail bot or die adjudicate !
— Elon Musk ( @elonmusk)April 21 , 2022
Many observers have meditate that Musk is likely to expend his control of the company to re - platform controversial public figures and news outlet that have previously been banned from the service . “ If Musk buy Twitter , then he will surely turn back Trump to the political program , opening the door for a workable 2024 streak , ” Joan Donovan , research director of the Harvard Kennedy School ’s Shorenstein Center on Media , Politics and Public Policy , tweetedMonday dayspring .
“ My other idea is that Twitter , fwiw , will further become a terrain of culture wars , ” Donovancontinued . “ With a mandate for “ free speech , ” the kind of torment that depicted object moderation tamp will go into overdrive aim lgbtq groups , women , BIPOC , and anyone else fighting for civil rights . ”
grant toa pollreleased on April 5th by market place inquiry firm Ipsos , 40 % of self - report “ heavy Twitter user ” said they trust Musk ’s purchase of the political platform will “ cause Twitter to allow swell free speech , ” and 40 % remember it would “ improve the quality of discussion on the political program . ”
How much is Musk paying?
Today ’s agreement says that an unnamed entity wholly owned by Elon Musk will pay approximately $ 44 billion . Under the terms of the spate , Twitter shareholder will receive $ 54.20 in John Cash for each share of Twitter common blood that they own upon closing of the proposed dealing . The purchase toll correspond a 38 % bounty to Twitter ’s completion stemma terms on April 1 , 2022 , which was the last trading mean solar day before Mr. Musk disclosed his approximately 9 % stakes in Twitter .
Update 2025-01-13 , 6:02 p.m. ET : This postal service has been updated most latterly with new content from a Twitter all stave meeting .
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