Twitter Inc.
TWTR 5.66%
Mondays are accepted
Elon Muskattempt to take over the company, which would give the world’s richest man control of the social media network, where he is also among its most influential users.
The $44 billion deal marks the end of a dramatic courtship and a shift in opinion at Twitter, where many executives and board members initially opposed the takeover approach. by Mr. Musk. The deal polarized Twitter employees, users, and regulators over the power tech giants use in determining the parameters of acceptable internet discourse and how those companies act. enforce their rules.
The two sides have been working through the night to find a deal, in which Mr. Musk plans to privately register on Twitter in a deal that values the company at $54.20 per share.
On Monday, Elon Musk signed a deal to buy Twitter for about $44 billion, bringing the world’s richest man closer to taking control of the social media platform. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED / AFP / Getty Images
The takeover, if successful, would mark one of the largest acquisitions in the history of technology and will likely have global consequences for years to come, including possibly reshaping the billions of people use social networks. Mr. Musk will bring his pledge for a more understandable approach to speech to a company struggling to reconcile free conversation with content that appeals to advertisers.
On Monday, a day later The Wall Street Journal first reported Mr. Musk tweeted that a deal was close to closing to indicate that he wanted the platform to become a destination for widespread debate and disagreement.
“I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that’s what free speech means,” he wrote.
Musk said after the deal was announced that he wanted to make Twitter a better user experience, in part by adding new features and fighting spam. Billionaire and CEO of
Tesla Inc.
and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., have a track record of challenging conventions across various industries.
Among the issues Musk will face is whether to allow it
back on Twitter, after the former president’s personal account was “permanently suspended” by the company last year following the January 6 violence at the US Capitol. Mr. Trump told Fox News on Monday that he has no plans to return to Twitter and will instead use social network startup Truth Social as a means of reaching followers.
At an all-employee meeting on Monday afternoon, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said there are no plans to lay off any employees and that the company’s priorities will not change before the deal closes, according to a statement. who heard the comments. When Musk took over, “we didn’t know what direction the company could go,” the person said.
Agrawal said Musk has agreed to convert employees’ stockpiles into cash once the deal closes and pay them according to an existing trading schedule, the person said.
Bret Taylor, Twitter’s independent chairman of the board, said the deal reflects the best outcome for shareholders.
The San Francisco-based social media company is expected to turn down an offer Mr. Musk made on April 14 without saying how he will pay.
Twitter, the day after the unsolicited offer was made, approved a so-called poisondesigned to make it more difficult for Mr. Musk to get more than 15% of the company’s shares.
Twitter changed position after Mr. Musk detailed his financial factors plan for the takeover. On April 21, he said he had $46.5 billion in funding. Twitter shares rallied and company executives opened the door for talks.
On Monday, shares rose 5.7% to $51.70. Twitter has become a lifeless stock exchange in an era of huge profits for tech companies. Its shares jumped on its first trading day in 2013, closing at $44.90, within a dollar of their price more than eight years after Mr. Musk took the approach. mine.
But since Mr. Musk revealed about 9% stake in the company in early April, Twitter shares have risen 32%. That puts the stock ahead of the year, ahead of other tech companies and the broader market.
The escape about Twitter came after Mr Musk met privately on Friday with a number of shareholders to lay out his proposal while reiterating that the board had made a “yes-or-no” decision. people familiar with the discussion said.
Musk, with more than 82 million followers on Twitter, has long used the platform to express his views on everything from space travel to cryptocurrency. In January, he started buying shares of Twitter, becoming the largest individual investor with more than 9% stake in April.
Previously he used Twitter to conflict escalation with the Securities and Exchange Commission after it opened an investigation into some of his recent stock purchases, and he often criticizes his criticism on social media.
Making Twitter private would allow Mr Musk to make changes without the oversight of public companies that are usually under the supervision of their shareholders. He also said he wants to keep as many shareholders as possible.
Twitter, at the beginning of the month, invite Mr. Musk joined the board — this prevented him from owning more than 14.9% of the company’s shares. Mr. Musk initially agreed and then refuse the offer.
Twitter has embarked on a plan of change following its fight with activist Elliott Management Corp. about two years ago. More than a year ago, Twitter said it aims to at least double its revenue to $7.5 billion by the end of 2023, and reach at least 315 million monetized daily active users by that time. there.
Mr. Musk’s suggested changes for the platform, including softening its stance on content moderation, making tweets edit features, making Twitter’s algorithm open source — allowing people outside of the company to view it and propose changes — and rely less on advertisingamong other ideas.
Mr. Musk, a self-described “liberalist”, said in a recent interview at a TED conference that he considers Twitter to be “the de facto town square.”
Mr. Musk said Twitter should be more cautious when deciding to take down tweets or permanently ban users’ accounts, and pointed to suspension as a better solution.
Mr. Musk said he also wants the platform to be more transparent when it takes action to amplify or reduce the reach of a tweet. He said he wasn’t sure how some of those ideas would be implemented.
Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco. There is caution among employees about the proposed takeover.
Photo:
David Paul Morris / Bloomberg News
Twitter has spent years advocating for healthier discourse on its platform and adding content moderation, arguing that it is at least in part good for business.
The company also introduced new features that have been gaining traction, including Twitter Spaces, which allows people to hold live audio chats with each other within the platform.
Mr. Musk said he wants Twitter to be less reliant on ads – which already provide about 90% of its revenue by 2021 – and shift his business model towards more subscriptions. The platform currently offers a subscription-based service called Twitter Blue, which offers customers premium features like “undo tweets” for $2.99 a month. He suggested removing all ads on Twitter as part of the subscription service.
Musk also floated the idea of cutting staff, closing the company’s San Francisco headquarters building and not paying the board of directors. He said: “ The latter alone could save about 3 million dollars a year.
His other suggested changes to Twitter include trying to prevent spam and phishing bots, and allowing longer tweets. The current limit is 280 characters.
On Thursday, Twitter is expected to announce its first-quarter earnings.
The company said on Monday that it would no longer hold calls with analysts that day.
—Dana Cmilluca and Liz Hoffman contributed to this article.
Write letter for Cara Lombardo at [email protected]Meghan Bobrowsky at [email protected] and Georgia Wells at [email protected]
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