Twitter will change hands, musk will do it.
Organize | Su Mi
Exhibiting | CSDN（ID：CSDNnews）
From the first public announcement of becoming Twitter's largest shareholder, to the turn of Twitter to agree to its acquisition plan, Musk's "step by step" took only 20 days.
On April 25, local time, Twitter announced that it had reached a final agreement with Musk to wholly acquire Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, with a total transaction value of $44 billion. The privatization of Twitter is also further possible.
Source: PR Newswire
Twitter, which was suspended for the news, rose 5.64% at the close of the day.
Musk acquires Twitter
Musk was very happy to send Twitter to celebrate, saying that "freedom of speech is the cornerstone of democratic operation, and Twitter is a digital city square where people discuss issues that are vital to the future of mankind." ”
At the same time, he hopes, "even critics who are very harsh on him can stay on Twitter because that's what freedom of speech means." ”
This sentence ushered in 230K likes from netizens and was recognized by many people. The first comment in the comment section reads, "It's historic that an African-American runs the world's largest social media."
Musk for freedom of speech, "step by step"
Indeed, this acquisition is not only a historic event in the history of acquisitions by technology giants, but also a legendary story in Musk's own life.
Looking back at Musk's thoughts about Twitter's "moving", as its fan base grew from 0 to 84,454,399, it also paid a $40 million fine in 2018 for free "pushing", and since then planted the seed of completely changing twitter rules, this idea was finally revealed in mid-March this year.
On March 14, Musk quietly bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter for $3 billion, quietly becoming the company's largest shareholder and stunned many shareholders who were kept in the dark.
In fact, under U.S. securities law, investors who buy 5% or more of a company should disclose information within 10 days of the transaction. That is, Musk bought 9.2% of Twitter stock on March 14, and should disclose it at least by March 24. However, Musk did not, and even overdue for 11 days, until April 5.
In this regard, some Twitter shareholders launched a lawsuit against Musk, saying that "Musk delayed disclosing that he owned more than 5% of the shares of Twitter Company, artificially lowering the stock price." It is an offence. Of course, what the impact of the violation needs to be determined by the SEC, and it needs to be another matter, but this does not affect the established fact that Musk has become the largest shareholder of Twitter."
However, this news did not last long, and was quickly washed away by a message released by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal on April 11 that "Musk decided not to join the Twitter board".
Parag Agrawal said at the time:
"The Board members and I had many discussions with Elon on board and communicated directly with Elon. We are excited to be able to work together and identify some of the risks involved. We also believe that as a principal of the company, Elon, like the members of the Board of Directors, must act in the best interests of the company and all our shareholders, which is the best way forward. In combination, the Board of Directors reserved a seat for him.
We announced on Tuesday that Elon will be appointed to the board, but that will also depend on his background research and his formal acceptance. Elon's appointment to the board will take effect on April 9, but on the same day, Elon said he would not join the board. We believe this is the best decision. We will always value the opinions of our shareholders, whether they are on our Board of Directors or not. Elon is our largest shareholder and we will continue to listen to him."
Parag Agrawal's unilateral statement did not receive the always positive endorsement from Musk.
Instead, Musk, who remained silent, abruptly launched a vote on Twitter on April 15 that "the privatization of Twitter at $54.20 should depend on shareholders, not the board of directors", and the result was as expected, with 83% "Yes" far exceeding the 17% "No" option.
At the same time, Musk's updated 13D filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also surfaced, in which he directly proposed to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share, calling it the "best and last" choice for Twitter.
In response to Musk's sudden acquisition plan, Twitter seems to be caught off guard, and even according to foreign media disclosures, Twitter's board of directors tried to launch a "poison pill plan" to resist Musk's acquisition. The so-called poison pill project, according to Wikipedia's explanation:
When a company encounters a hostile takeover, especially when the acquirer's stake has reached 10% to 20%, the company will issue new shares at a low price in order to retain its controlling interest. The purpose is to reduce the proportion of shares in the hands of the acquirer, that is, to dilute the equity, but also to increase the acquisition cost, the purpose is to make the acquirer unable to achieve the target of holding.
However, we do not know whether Twitter's plan has been implemented or resisted, but Musk has also said, "If my proposal is not accepted, I need to reconsider my status as a shareholder", and he also has an unknown Plan B.
To a certain extent, it can be seen that Musk is imperative to Twitter. Twitter's reluctance seems to be twofold:
The first is the issue of quotations. Although Musk's offer is much higher than Twitter's current share price, as Saudi Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud, one of Twitter's shareholders, put it, "Musk's $54.2/share offer does not come close to Twitter's intrinsic value." "So a lot of shareholders are reluctant.
The second is the cash problem of Musk's wholly-owned acquisition. Although Musk is a billionaire, most of his wealth is related to the Tesla stock he controls, and the cash on hand may be limited.
As everyone knows, according to a filing filed by Twitter with the SEC on April 20 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001494730/000110465922048128/tm2213229d1_sc13da.htm), Musk has received a financing commitment of $46.5 billion to acquire Twitter. Of those, Musk has secured about $25.5 billion in debt financing from Morgan Stanley and several other banks, as well as his own $21 billion in funding. Other participating companies are Bank of America, Barclays, Mitsubishi Nikka Financial Group, Societe Generale, Mizuho and BNP Paribas. The move also addresses some of the concerns of Twitter shareholders.
Now, as Twitter accepts Musk's acquisition deal, in the official announcement, Bret Taylor, chairman of Twitter's independent board, said: "Twitter's board of directors has conducted a deliberate and comprehensive process to evaluate Musk's proposal, with a deliberate focus on value, certainty and financing. The proposed deal would result in a substantial cash premium, which we believe is the best way forward for Twitter shareholders. ”
Parag Agrawal, CEO of Twitter, said: "Twitter's goals and relevance affect the entire world. We are proud of our team and inspired by work that has never been more important. ”
And netizens sang all the way, "Twitter is ours!"
What will Musk do to Twitter after the acquisition?
While Twitter's takeover ultimately requires shareholder and regulator approval, Reuters reported that Twitter has received board approval and still needs shareholder votes. Many analysts also said that there are no regulatory hurdles expected.
Compared with the carnival of netizens and melon eaters, many employees within Twitter have completely shown a contrary, uncertain and worried anxiety about Musk's acquisition. As the saying goes, "new officials take office with three fires", what kind of changes will Musk bring to Twitter after he successfully takes office?
Product Reform for Twitter
In response to this, in the official announcement, Musk has made a reform vision from four dimensions:
Enhance your product with new features
In fact, not long ago, Musk also put into action and launched a vote on whether to add an edit button on Twitter. I want to improve the user experience from the basic functions and enhance the user stickiness of the product.
Make the algorithm open source to increase trust
A few months ago, Musk said that Twitter's algorithm should become open source, which is the basis for Making Twitter a free speech platform. No, after Twitter just announced that it agreed to Musk's acquisition, on GitHub, Twitter officially created a "the-algorithm" repository (https://github.com/twitter/the-algorithm), although this repository is currently blank, but also instantly ushered in 3.6k stars of netizens.
However, some netizens criticized (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31160546), "Many people commented that this warehouse is empty. However, they don't realize that Twitter has never actually had an algorithm, which is why it's empty. (The repository is currently deleted)
Defeat spam bots
Authenticate everyone
Regarding these improvements, Musk said, "It's designed to make Twitter better than ever." Twitter has tremendous potential — and I look forward to working with the company and the user community to unlock it." “
Twitter's personnel structure is facing a change?
Excluding the product level, Musk did not mention the instructions or ideas about the need for adjustments for personnel. However, at an internal meeting on Monday, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said he would continue to serve as CEO until the deal was completed, but he had no comment on what would happen after that. Bret Taylor, independent chairman of the board, said the company's board would dissolve once the deal was completed. "There is really uncertainty about what will happen after the transaction is completed," says Parag Agrawal.
At the same time, according to a person familiar with Twitter, the company has no layoff plans "at present". But some Twitter employees have expressed dissatisfaction or complete opposition to Musk's acquisition of the company, and the company's internal Slack platform is full of worries and negativity.
There are also many people who discuss the impact of Twitter's privatization on the value of the stock in its own compensation:
Can someone tell me if I've become rich or if I've been fired?
At the same time, there is speculation in foreign media that the current CEO of Twitter may leave the company after the acquisition is completed. According to the announcement, the transaction has received unanimous approval from Twitter's board of directors and is expected to close in 2022. It is expected that another six months will be required.
In this regard, on HN, some netizens launched a poll, "After Musk's acquisition, will you leave Twitter?" “
As of now, 190 netizens have made it clear that they will not. There are also many people who take a wait-and-see attitude:
@somesortofthing: Honestly, I don't think it's going to change that much. So far, Musk's statements suggest that he lacks a basic understanding of the problems inherent in running platforms like Twitter, so once he starts to encounter them, he may get frustrated and lose interest. I suspect the company will eventually fall into the hands of a group that is no different from the current board, except that they will become Musk's friends.
@d4mi3n: I would like to point out that the individual's reaction to this is not important. What matters is whether Twitter is still a place for free speech. Whether it's Musk or a private shareholder group, ownership doesn't matter if the people who control it can decide what the public can discuss or share.
What do you think?
reference:
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/elon-musk-to-acquire-twitter-301532245.html
https://www.theverge.com/23042020/twitter-employees-elon-musk-buyout-slack
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31160546
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31159585
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