According to the news on April 26, on Monday, local time in the United States, the social media platform Twitter company announced that the company's board of directors accepted elon Musk's acquisition agreement. Under the deal, Musk will buy Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, totaling about $44 billion. Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a private company and will no longer be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
In the beginning, Musk only bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter for $2.89 billion, becoming Twitter's largest shareholder. According to documents disclosed by the State Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Tesla founder Musk bought 9.2% of Twitter, nearly 4 times more than Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's 2.25%. Now, Musk has taken Twitter private altogether.
After the acquisition was officially announced, Twitter shares edged up to nearly $52, closing at $51.70, or 5.66 percent.
Bret Taylor, chairman of Twitter's independent board, said in a statement that Twitter's board of directors has considered and comprehensively considered Musk's proposal. "The proposed deal will result in a substantial cash premium, which we believe is the best path for Twitter shareholders."
Musk said that in the future, Twitter hopes to make Twitter better by enhancing products with new features, making algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating spam bots, and authenticating everyone. At the same time, Twitter will also cooperate with the user community to actively build a free speech platform and fully unleash the potential of Twitter. So the question is, what changes will Musk bring when he buys Twitter?
Musk's acquisition of Twitter is a real focus of controversy over free speech and content control. Musk has been holding high the banner of free speech in this "Twitter privatization campaign". As early as March 25, Musk posted a vote on Weibo: "Do you think Twitter abides by the principle of free speech?" According to the data, more than 2 million Twitter users participated in the voting, and 70.4% of them believe that Twitter does not comply with the rhetoric
Some argue that one of Musk's main motivations may be to influence Twitter's review policy, as he often criticizes the policy as too restrictive.
Immediately after the acquisition, Musk tweeted and said, "I hope that even the harshest criticism of me can remain on Twitter, because that's what free speech is about." ”
Conversely, some Twitter users are worried about Musk's arrival, fearing that Twitter will later loosen its content controls and allow previously banned content to appear on the platform. Such as false information about the new crown epidemic and vaccines, conspiracy theories about "fraud" in the US election, and extreme remarks about racial discrimination. The content output of the platform is not regulated, which may intensify social contradictions.
In addition to content control, Musk has also repeatedly expressed support for Dogecoin. The outside world speculates that dogecoin will have more room to play on Twitter in the future. As we all know, Musk has been standing for cryptocurrencies. In April 2019, in the official Twitter account to launch the selection of Dogecoin CEO pictures, Musk was elected by a high vote. Musk then tweeted that Dogecoin was his favorite digital currency, and turned the content of his Twitter account profile into Bitcoin, which rose by $800 short-term after Musk changed the Twitter profile.
In early April, Musk had made a series of recommendations for The Twitter BLue subscription service, including paying for Dogecoin. It is conceivable that Musk's idea of transforming Twitter will also spread to the cryptocurrency field from content to product.
However, after Musk wins Twitter, he will also face a series of unresolved questions: Who will lead Twitter? How does the Board of Directors and staff change? Will Dogecoin be used on social media? How to achieve Musk's so-called freedom of speech?