The move would give the world's richest man control of the social media platform. If successfully completed, it would be one of the biggest acquisitions in tech history and could reshape the way billions of people use social media.
Twitter on Monday accepted Elon Musk's offer, a move that would give the world's richest man control of the social media platform. Musk himself is one of the most influential users on Twitter.
The $44 billion deal marked the end of a dramatic bid and a change in Twitter's mindset, with many of the company's executives and board members initially opposing being acquired by Musk. Tech giants have the power to make decisions about what representations on the internet are acceptable, and Twitter employees, users and regulators have been extremely divided over what musk has proposed for the deal.
The two sides negotiated through the night and eventually reached an acquisition deal in which Musk plans to take Twitter private, valuing it at $54.20 per share.
If successfully completed, it would be one of the biggest acquisitions in the history of technology and could have a huge impact on the world in the coming years, for example, possibly reshaping the way billions of people use social media. Musk will follow through on Twitter's pledge to be more free of speech, which has struggled to reconcile between allowing speech and managing content to attract advertisers. In addition, Musk also said that he hopes to make Twitter's algorithm public to clarify the specific logic of content recommendation and blocking.
Musk said in Monday's statement: "Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of a normal democratic system, and Twitter is a digital city square where matters of vital importance to the future of humanity will be debated." Twitter has tremendous potential, and I look forward to working with companies and user communities to unlock that potential." ”
The acquisition process has frequent twists and turns
Twitter's privatization marked a dramatic turning point, starting as a messaging service to share status updates with friends, but soon evolving into the form of people posting short articles of less than 140 words to the public. Twitter has caused a stir among politicians, celebrities and journalists, and alongside social media backbones Facebook and YouTube, it has become a new, more interactive way to use the web, known as the standard for Web 2.0.
Since its creation in 2006, Twitter has experienced a series of crises, including management turmoil, with co-founder Jack Dorsey being removed early on Twitter and eventually returning in 2015. After an initial public offering in 2013, the company considered a sale in 2016, attracting interest from Walt Disney Inc. to Salesforce Corporation. In 2020, Dorsey tangled with an aggressive investor, forcing Twitter to set specific growth targets and increase its board responsibilities. This became the catalyst for Dorsey's eventual second departure so he could focus on his other company, digital payments company Block Inc.
Just last week, it was unclear whether Musk's acquisition would succeed. The 50-year-old billionaire himself said at a TED event on the day the acquisition was announced, and even he himself expressed doubts about the prospects of the acquisition. Although Twitter's stock price initially jumped on news of Musk taking a stake in the company, the share price has been well below the original purchase price of $54.20 since the announcement — a sign that investors are skeptical that the deal will go ahead.
Twitter passed a shareholder rights plan on April 15 — a measure known as a "poison pill" to fend off unpopular bidders. Disclosing the plan, the company said it could exercise the plan if one party acquired 15 percent of the shares without prior approval and sought to ensure that anyone who had acquired control of the social media company through open market accumulation paid an appropriate control premium to all shareholders.
But last week came a turning point when Musk laid out a funding plan that included 12 banks led by Morgan Stanley. A person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News on Sunday that Musk met with Twitter executives just days after the plan was disclosed because the company was more receptive to the deal.