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In less than two weeks, Twitter's board of directors went from hard mouth to soft, and on April 25, local time, accepted Musk's total $44 billion acquisition offer.
Will Twitter, which has been losing money for two consecutive years, get better?
Don't have the money to buy Twitter? Non-existent!
Musk still knocked on Twitter's door with "banknote power". On April 25, local time, Twitter announced that it had accepted Musk's acquisition agreement, and Musk acquired Twitter for $54.2 per share, totaling about $44 billion.
The deal, which has received unanimous approval from Twitter's board of directors but still requires shareholder and regulatory approvals, is expected to close in 2022. Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company.
But before that, Musk's road to acquiring Twitter has been tossed, first the opposition of major shareholders, and then the "poison pill plan" opened by Twitter's board of directors for the acquisition to dilute Musk's shareholding.
The turning point in the takeover drama came with a document submitted by Musk on April 21. Musk said that because Twitter's board did not respond to its own acquisition request, he did not rule out the possibility of using the "tender offer" to make the acquisition.
In the filing, Musk also responded to rumors that he did not have the money to buy Twitter, saying that he had received more than $25 billion in debt financing from financial institutions including Morgan Stanley, and that he would also contribute $21 billion himself.
Subsequently, Twitter's attitude took a 180-degree turn, and the two sides finally negotiated. Twitter shares edged up to nearly $52 after the news was announced, closing at $51.70, or 5.66 percent, on the day.
Musk also forwarded the relevant statement on the Twitter account, accompanied by "Yesss!!! And heart shapes, rockets and other patterns to express their joyful mood.
However, even if there is money like the world's richest man, Musk may still need to use some "external forces" to win Twitter. Although it is not as good as the $68.7 billion that Microsoft spent for Activision Blizzard, the $44 billion has to be pocketed by Musk.
Bloomberg believes that an important way for Musk is to find like-minded investors who share his vision for Twitter and join his acquisition of Twitter. This means that part of the equity will come from new or existing shareholders.
Intention to create a "gladiatorial arena for free speech"
Spending a huge amount of money to acquire Twitter, although Musk has always played cards according to common sense, but the connotation is far more than that. Before that, Musk already had SpaceX flying in space, Tesla running on the ground, Boring digging tunnels underground, and Neuralink connected to the brain.
Reuters said the world's richest people would control the social media platform, which has hundreds of millions of users, including global leaders, and Musk intends to create a "gladiatorial arena for free speech."
Twitter has always been Musk's most active position. Since joining Twitter in June 2009, Musk has sent out more than 17,000 tweets, including but not limited to playing memes, serious discussions, and hype, and has 84.4 million followers.
But Musk has also often criticized Twitter for not adhering to the principle of free speech. In his view, Twitter is currently "neither able to promote nor serve free speech."
On March 25, Musk launched a poll on Twitter, asking netizens about their attitudes toward Twitter. Two days later, more than 2 million netizens took part in the vote, and 70.4 percent believed that Twitter did not abide by the principle of free speech.
After forwarding the voting results, Musk added again, "Is a new platform needed?" It wasn't until April 4, when Musk transformed himself into Twitter's largest outside shareholder, that people realized that the world's richest man was really considering building a new social media platform.
Musk announced in the acquisition statement that he will completely revise and rewrite the rules and regulations of the platform for the management of speech and the consequences of speech in the future, hoping that Twitter can continue to provide a platform for people to express different opinions. In addition, Musk also said that he hopes to make Twitter's algorithm public to clarify the specific logic of content recommendation and blocking.
After the matter was finalized, Jack Dorsey, former CEO of Twitter and founder of Twitter, sent six tweets expressing his expectations for Musk, including a song called "EverythingIs In Its Right Place" in a row. Like Musk, Dorsey has tweeted several times to express his dissatisfaction with Twitter's board. The two have been friends for many years.
For the acquisition and follow-up plans, the Beijing Business Daily reporter interviewed Twitter, but as of press time has not received a reply.
In the view of Internet commentator Zhang Shule, there is no direct connection between Musk and Twitter's business at present, which may be a strategic investment of Musk, or it may be a financial hype similar to the previous push up bitcoin.
Get rich or get cut?
It's about to change bosses, but the 7,000 Twitter employees have a lot of question marks.
What will happen to the company's future when Musk takes over? Will pay be reduced? Will Twitter also be moved to Texas like Tesla? Will Musk end the flexible office model that has become a highlight of Twitter?
At the meeting after announcing the agreement to the acquisition, employees sent one question after another to the current CEO, Parag Agrawal, who could clearly answer few questions.
On Twitter, someone simply asked: "Just tell me, do I want to get rich or be cut?" ”
One of the things Agravar can tell employees is that it's still uncertain what the future holds for Twitter after Musk's takeover deal for Twitter is complete.
Some advertisers are also worried about Musk's arrival, fearing that if Twitter is too open after that, the amount of advertising will decrease.
But for social platforms like Twitter, when sales are down and advertising competition is too fierce, embracing business gurus may be a good choice.
In 2013, when the news came out that Amazon founder Bezos was going to buy the Washington Post, some old employees "cried bitterly" because of the passing of an era, while others were looking forward to it. An editor who left the newspaper once said: "If I could work under Bezos, I would really like to return to the old newspaper industry." ”
Before being acquired by Bezos, the Washington Post lost nearly $50 million in the first half of 2013, with declining revenue and subscribers; similarly, Twitter had a net loss of $221 million in 2021. In the past 7 years, Twitter has failed to achieve profitability for 5 years.
The young writer of the Internet Association xiang Kun admitted that the current operation of Twitter is not ideal, with Musk's blessing, the future may be able to try web3.0 and meta-universe in his Tesla, and revitalize Twitter.
Source 丨Beijing Business Daily (reporter Tao Feng, Zhao Tianshu), Jimu News, China Economic Network
Image source 丨Zhongxin Jingwei video screenshot, social platform screenshot, visual China
Editor 丨 Wang Lination