It has finally happened! Musk now owns Twitter
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has finally taken over Twitter, hours before the looming deadline of October 28. After several ifs and buts and the various controversies, Musk now owns the micro-blogging site.
Here's all you need to know about the Musk-Twitter saga.
Twitter confirms Musk buyout offer
Elon Musk on October 4, 2022, offered to push through with his buyout of Twitter at the original agreed price, as a trial over his efforts to withdraw from the deal loomed.
"We write to notify you that the Musk Parties intend to proceed to closing of the transaction," read a copy of the letter to Twitter filed with the SEC.
"The intention of the company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share," Twitter said in a tweet confirming the billionaire entrepreneur is apparently abandoning his legal battle to terminate the deal.
Conditions noted in the letter included that the court immediately halt all action in the lawsuit, with Musk poised to be deposed under oath later this week.
(Photograph:AFP)
What are the new conditions?
Conditions noted in Musk's letter included that the court halt action in the lawsuit against him. He had been slated to be questioned under oath by Twitter attorneys later this week.
The 51-year-old tweeted that buying Twitter "is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app," offering no details.
During an annual shareholders meeting in August, Musk said Twitter could add momentum to a vision he had for the X.com company he founded in 1999.
X.com merged with Confinity, whose co-founders include Peter Thiel, and the entity went on to become PayPal.
"I do sort of have a grander vision for what I thought X.com, or X corporation, could have been back in the day," Musk said at the shareholder meeting.
"I think Twitter would help accelerate that by three to five years."
(Photograph:AFP)
What happens next?
Musk could be in charge of Twitter in a matter of days but some logistical and legal hurdles remain. It's just a matter of time, as however long it takes him and his co-investors to line up the cash, said Ann Lipton, an associate law professor at Tulane University.
Eric Talley, a law professor at Columbia University, said he’s not surprised by Musk’s turnaround, especially ahead of a scheduled deposition of Musk by Twitter attorneys starting Thursday that was “not going to be pleasant.”
“On the legal merits, his case didn’t look that strong,” Talley said. “It kind of seemed like a pretty simple buyer’s remorse case.”
Even if the deal now goes through without a hitch, it’s too soon to call a victory for Twitter, said Jasmine Enberg, an analyst with Insider Intelligence.
“The deal will solve some of the short-term uncertainty at the company, but Twitter is essentially in the same place it was in April,” she said.
(Photograph:Reuters)
Why was Musk backing out?
There were a lot of reasons why Musk might have had second thoughts. But he alleged that Twitter has failed to provide enough information about the number of fake accounts it has.
Twitter had said that it was making available to Musk a “firehose” of public raw data on hundreds of millions of daily tweets.
But Musk’s lawyers had argued that the company was providing Musk with sometimes “incomplete or unusable information” and less data than it offers some of its big customers.
Twitter had mentioned that it uses a mix of public and private data to determine the amount of spam. That would include IP addresses, phone numbers and location. Twitter said such private data helps avoid misidentifying real accounts as spam.
Twitter has said for years in regulatory filings that it believes about 5 per cent of the accounts on the platform are fake.
(Photograph:Reuters)
How did the conflict impact Twitter?
The Musk saga has been, to put it mildly, a distraction for Twitter’s workers, executives, and even users.
Some employees have quit, while others were laid off or fired. Job offers have been rescinded and discretionary spending curtailed.
Twitter itself is unlikely to go anywhere regardless of whether or not it changes hands. But if the turmoil continues it could scare away advertisers. If too many engineers and other employees leave, the platform’s quality could suffer as well.
(Photograph:AFP)
Musk takes over Twitter
Elon Musk has completed his takeover of Twitter and fired several top executives, hours before the end of court-imposed deadline, according to media reports. Twitter's CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal have left the company, with Elon Musk now in charge of operations.
(Photograph:Reuters)