The Acquisition Of Twitter By Elon Musk

               

The acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk began on April 14, 2022, and concluded on October 27, 2022.

Business magnate Elon Musk began buying shares of American social media company Twitter, Inc. in January 2022, eventually becoming the company's largest shareholder in April with a 9.1 percent ownership stake. Twitter then invited Musk to join its board of directors, which Musk at first accepted before subsequently declining. On April 14, he made an unsolicited offer to purchase the company for $43 billion, to which Twitter responded with a "poison pill" strategy to resist a hostile takeover. On April 25, Twitter's board of directors unanimously accepted Musk's buyout offer of $44 billion, with the company set to be taken private.

Musk stated that he planned to introduce new features to the platform, make its algorithms open-sourced, combat spambot accounts, and promote free speech by loosening content moderation.

Musk announced his intention to terminate the agreement in July, asserting that Twitter had breached their agreement by refusing to crack down on spambot accounts. The company filed a lawsuit against Musk in the Delaware Court of Chancery shortly thereafter, with a trial scheduled for the week of October 17. Weeks before the trial was set to begin, Musk reversed course, announcing that he would move forward with the acquisition. The deal was closed on October 27, with Musk immediately becoming Twitter's new owner and CEO. He also fired several top executives, including previous CEO Parag Agrawal. Musk has since proposed several reforms to Twitter, including the creation of a "content moderation council" to handle free speech, and laid off half of the company's workforce.

Under Musk's leadership, Twitter staff members were directed to extend their work hours to meet Musk's deadlines for multiple changes to the platform.

Musk also announced the creation of a "content moderation council" with diversified viewpoints to determine how the platform would handle free speech, and declared a moratorium on "major content decisions or account reinstatements" until then.[194] He previously signaled his intention to do away with lifetime account suspensions and unban those suspended for "minor [or] dubious reasons".[180][195][196]

On October 30, the technology newsletter Platformer reported that Twitter would require users to purchase a Twitter Blue subscription in order to retain their blue "verified" checkmark on the platform,[197][198] which Musk later confirmed as a measure to combat spambot accounts.

On November 1, Musk told civil rights activist groups he would not alter Twitter's content policies prior to the midterms,[206] later adding that Twitter accounts banned prior to the acquisition would not be unbanned until at least after then as well.

On November 4, Musk and Twitter have begun laying off a substantial portion of the company's workforce and Twitter temporarily closed its offices,[208][209][210] with The New York Times estimating that roughly half of the employees had been let go. Musk explained that the layoffs were a cost-cutting measure and stated that the company had been losing over $4 million a day,[212][215] criticizing activist groups who had called on advertisers to cease doing business with the company. The previous CEO, Parag Agrawal, applauded the purchase and assured employees that no layoffs were planned at that time,[292][293] adding he was proud of Twitter employees "despite the noise" around the company.[59] He also led an all-hands meeting on April 29 to address concerns raised by employees.[294] Dorsey endorsed the sale, saying that "taking [Twitter] back from Wall Street is the correct first step" and that he trusted Musk to be the owner of the company.

Far from the noise any direction change might cause, in my opinion, considering Twitter is a social media platform whose decay has been evident during the recent years compared to other platforms, the focus should be on the innovative business model an ambitious entrepreneur like Elon Musk can develop from. At this moment, he has promised things like a new verification system, a revamped subscription program, better creator monetization and others such as a long-form content ‘Notes’ feature.

After taking over Twitter, the first product change Musk announced was revamping the verification system. Days later, he posted more details that included new features for Twitter Blue paid plan. Musk said the new system will cost $8 per month and have fewer ads, priority in replies (something which verified handles get through the “Verified” notification channel), mentions and search, and the ability to post longer videos. At this moment, paid users can post 10-minute videos and other users have a time limit of two minutes and 20 seconds on videos. The company has already been experimenting with things like moving the verified notification tab to appear as the default screen in the notification screen. While Twitter’s new verification is all about giving “power to people,” Musk specified there will be a secondary tag on the profile to identify public figures like politicians.

Apart from announcing a ton of product changes, Twitter’s new head is also making some critical policy decisions. However, it’s unclear when these rules will come into effect and how they will play with various international laws. Just after taking charge of Twitter, Musk said that the company will form a content moderation council that will have people sharing diverse sets of views.