According to those familiar with the matter, Elon Musk completed his $44 billion takeover of Twitter Inc., putting the world’s richest man in charge of the floundering social network following a six-month public and court battle.
Changing leadership is one of Musk’s concepts. Twitter Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal, the director of legal, policy, and trust Vijaya Gadde, who joined Twitter in 2017; and Sean Edgett, who has been general counsel of Twitter since 2012. According to two people who asked to remain anonymous since the information isn’t public, Edgett was taken from the premises.
Twitter will now operate as a private company, with investors earning $54.20 per share. The completion caps a convoluted adventure that began in January with the billionaire’s hidden purchase of a major stake in the company, his growing displeasure with how it is run, and an eventual merger agreement that he later spent months trying to unravel.
On Oct. 4, Musk agreed to proceed under his initial proposed terms, and a Delaware Chancery Court judge gave the two sides until Oct. 28 to conclude the agreement. That deadline was met, and Musk is now the CEO of both Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, as well as Twitter, a service he routinely uses but openly despises and has promised to dramatically alter. The corporation’s stock will no longer be traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Musk’s ownership will have an immediate impact on Twitter’s operations, in part because many of his ideas for transforming the company go against how it has been run for years. He has stated that he wants to ensure “free expression” on the social network, which is likely to mean looser content moderation standards, and that he intends to reinstate certain high-profile accounts that were banned from Twitter for violating regulations, such as former US President Donald Trump’s account.
In general, Musk’s objectives risk erasing Twitter’s years of work to reduce bullying and harassment on the platform. As the deadline approached, Musk began to make his presence known at the company, broadcasting a video of himself entering the headquarters and altering his profile descriptor on the platform he now owned to “Chief Twit”.
According to people familiar with the situation, he scheduled meetings between Tesla engineers and product executives at Twitter and planned to address the workforce on Friday. According to the sources, Twitter’s developers were unable to make changes to the code as of midday Thursday in San Francisco, as part of an effort to ensure that nothing about the product changed until the purchase was completed.
According to people familiar with the issue, Musk informed employees on Wednesday during a visit to Twitter headquarters that he does not aim to lay off 75% of the company’s employees when he takes over.
Musk noted at an all-hands meeting in June following his acquisition agreement that Twitter “needs to get healthy,” referring to cost-cutting. He has also claimed that only “exceptional” staff will be allowed to work from home, while everyone else will be compelled to come to the office. Twitter, headquartered in San Francisco, was one of the first major firms to guarantee all employees the freedom to work “forever” from anyplace.
Some of his attempts have been aided by Twitter. In May, the company announced a hiring freeze, closed or downsized many facilities around the world, and canceled a companywide trip to Disneyland in 2023.
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In anticipation of the merger’s completion, Twitter banned employee stock awards accounts last week. According to sources acquainted with the situation, employees are afraid that their stock awards may not be paid, and some are arguing and researching labor regulations to ensure they receive the appropriate sort of severance.
Agrawal was widely expected to step down once Musk took charge. Text messages produced during the trial indicate that the two men had a furious argument early in the process, and Musk later chastised Agrawal for being on vacation in Hawaii during some of the early negotiations. After the merger was revealed, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tried unsuccessfully to bring them back together.
Since Musk actively entered the argument in April, Twitter’s revenue, which is mostly based on the advertising displayed in users’ feeds on its social network, has been in decline. In the second quarter, the firm reported its first year-over-year sales drop since the epidemic’s peak, and Twitter is expected to see a similar slump in the third quarter, though the company hasn’t disclosed plans to publish profits.
Musk has mentioned developing a subscription product for Twitter to supplement ad revenue, although it is unclear which products or capabilities would be charged a premium. Twitter Blue is currently available, but the company has emphasized that it is primarily geared toward power users. Musk isn’t convinced. In a text message to a friend in April, he referred to Twitter Blue as a “crazy piece of s—t.”
Under Musk’s leadership, the social network’s dialogue might deteriorate, undermining years of efforts by the company and its “trust and safety” team to restrict inappropriate or destructive remarks. On Thursday, Musk issued a statement to advertisers in which he stated that he does not want Twitter to become a “free-for-all hellscape.”
The last six months have been trying for Twitter employees, who have primarily been following the ups and downs of the roller-coaster deal through news headlines.
Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is a mergers and acquisitions deal that started on April 14, 2022, and ended on October 27, 2022. Elon Musk, the billionaire businessman, offered to buy Twitter, Inc. for $43 billion in April 2022, after earlier acquiring 9.1 percent of the company’s stock for $2.64 billion and becoming its largest stakeholder.
Twitter then requested Musk to join its board of directors, which Musk initially accepted before declining. The next day, Twitter announced a “poison pill” strategy to fend against a hostile acquisition. On April 25, Twitter’s board of directors overwhelmingly accepted Musk’s $44 billion acquisition offer, putting the firm on track to go private. Musk added that he intended to add additional features to the site, open-source its algorithms, eliminate spambot accounts, and support free expression.
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