Musk bought Twitter stock on January 31. On March 14, he held over 5% of the corporation. He was now required to notify the SEC of his acquisition. Musk missed the deadline by ten days, allowing him to buy additional inexpensive shares. A shareholder lawsuit followed.
MARCH 24
Fearing de facto bias in the Twitter algorithm, Musk tweeted, “Twitter algorithm should be open source.”
MARCH 25
Musk polled his Twitter followers on the importance of free speech. Do you think Twitter follows this rule to the letter?
MARCH 26
“Does a new platform” Musk tweeted it. “Am really considering it.”
APRIL 4
Musk revealed his investment. Later, he tweeted another poll asking for an edit button. “The repercussions of this survey will be significant,” said Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal.
APRIL 5
Musk was applauded by many Twitter board members. And Agrawal tweeted that they’d spoken for weeks. Musk reclassified himself as an active investor in his interest statement.
APRIL 9
Musk notified the firm he would not be joining the board. Agrawal issued an email to staff and tweeted it the following day.
APRIL 11
Musk changed his SEC statement to allow him to acquire as many shares as he wished. Many Twitter workers were “overwhelmed”.
APRIL 14
Elon Musk proposed to acquire Twitter for $43 billion and take it private on April 14. Musk’s “best and final” offer was $54.20 per share, a 54% premium over the stock’s January start-up price. Morgan Stanley advised on the bid.
APRIL 15
A poison pill rights plan permitted shareholders who owned more than 15% of Twitter to acquire shares at a discount. Thus, the millionaire would have to spend far more for the firm than he had expected.
APRIL 16
With Jack (Dorsey) gone, the Twitter board holds basically no shares, Musk tweeted on April 16. “It’s always been the company’s dysfunction,” Dorsey said. Dorsey is slated to depart the board after his tenure ends on May 25.
APRIL 19
A transaction would need Musk to spend up to $15 billion in cash and borrow against his Twitter share, according to the New York Post.
April 21
Musk considered a Twitter tender offer, claiming $46.5 billion in funds. His equity funding includes $21 billion and $25.5 billion in loans from Morgan Stanley and others.
April 24
Twitter’s board met with Musk.
April 25
Twitter accepted Musk’s first offer of $54.20 per share. Musk said he would prioritize free expression, open-source the site’s algorithms, remove spam and create new features. Twitter claimed the acquisition will conclude in 2022
In the digital town square where issues crucial to humanity’s future are addressed, free expression is the backbone of a healthy democracy. I also want to improve Twitter by adding new features, opening up the algorithms to promote trust, combating spambots, and authenticating all people. “Twitter has huge potential – I look forward to working with the business and the people to unleash it,” Musk stated in a tweet. Tesla’s stock dropped 13% after Elon Musk Twitter Takeover, wiping out 126 billion dollars in market value. Investors fear Musk would sell his shares to complete his $44 billion buyouts, causing a loss of confidence and a drop in Tesla’s stock. Tesla’s market value has fallen by around $275 billion since Musk said he had expanded his Twitter shareholding on April 4, a 23% decline.
Musk’s 17% share in Tesla has lost almost $40 billion in value, about twice the stock component he guaranteed in the Twitter deal. If Musk cancels his arrangement, he must pay Twitter Inc. $1 billion. Musk will get paid if the offer fails due to a lack of stock, debt or margin loan funding, according to the document. According to the filing, Musk secured $25.5 billion in debt and margin loans and pledged $21 billion in equity. Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” has openly discussed content control. He suggested on April 14 in a TED Talk in Canada that Twitter should notify users when the material is boosted or downgraded. In his perspective, free expression involves saying things on Twitter that others don’t like. We should be extremely careful about deleting items and imposing permanent restrictions, Musk remarked. “I like time-outs.”
“Social media platform regulations are ideal if the most extreme 10% on both sides are equally dissatisfied,” Musk tweeted last week. But censoring material isn’t just about silence. Leaving up harassment or hate speech might have a “chilling impact” on users, particularly minorities and women, said Emma Llansó, head of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s free expression initiative.
While revealing Twitter’s algorithm may make the social network more transparent, spammers and bad actors may attempt to use it to push their tweets higher in the timeline. “Every action like this has content moderation considerations,” Llansó added. “This is where taking the time to properly consider the planned and unexpected repercussions of a major action is critical.”
In the latest developments, Elon Musk Twitter Takeover is on hold until CEO proves the platform has fewer than 5% fake accounts.
