You don't even need 280 characters to deliver this new capital: Elon Musk just bought Twitter.
The Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder has been making the rounds on the popular social media platform for weeks, using Twitter itself as a means of announcing both his intentions and his lingering frustrations with the platform in its current form.
Now, after raising the funds (his own backing and that of Morgan Stanley), Musk will pay $43.400 billion (about $54,20 per share) in a takeover bid that gives him control of the company. The deal is now subject to regulatory approval.
With Twitter's earnings report just days away, the new owner is likely to appear on the company's first-quarter earnings call, at least just to say "hello" and wisely decline to directly answer most questions. of the analysts.
In a statement about the acquisition, Musk said: "Free speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital public square where issues vital to the future of humanity are discussed.
"I also want Twitter to be better than ever by improving the product with new features, open-sourcing algorithms to increase trust, defeating spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has huge potential. I don't see time to work with the company and the user community to unlock it."
I hope even my worst critics stay on Twitter, because that's what free speech means April 25, 2022
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Bret Taylor, Twitter's independent chairman of the board, said in the statement that "the proposed transaction will provide a substantial cash bonus and we believe it is the best way forward for Twitter shareholders."
Parag Agrawal, CEO of Twitter and the person who could end up working the closest with Musk, said in the statement: "Twitter has purpose and relevance that impacts the world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by work that has never been been more important." In particular, he did not refer directly to Musk.
Musk's win comes after a tortuous journey to ownership: He first bought nearly 10% of Twitter stock, gave him a seat at the table and invited him to the board. Musk agreed, then backed away just as quickly. But he wasn't finished. He soon offered $43.000 billion for the company, prompting Twitter's board of directors to adopt a poison pill plan that would have sold cheaper shares to shareholders if Musk had tried to buy more than 15% of the company's stock. .
Shortly after, Musk, who has been on the platform since 2009, backed out of a takeover bid, which meant he had to raise all the money to buy the company. As early as last week, Musk secured the funds, and over the weekend Musk's leadership team and Twitter met in person to work out the details.
a bumpy road
Not everyone is thrilled at the prospect of a Musk-owned Twitter. Looking ahead to the announcement, #RIPTwitter was trending on the platform.
As for what follows, Musk has made clear his intentions to ensure that Twitter supports free speech on all sides (implying that it currently doesn't, although he does). There is no empirical evidence to support it.)
It could review some user bans, including that of former President Trump.
It will probably open the Twitter code.
As a fan of blockchain and NFT, Musk could push the platform more aggressively into the crypto space.
But investors and backers will be more interested in Musk's growth plan. Twitter has done a decent job of generating more revenue from existing users, but its growth in recent years has been relatively slow and flat. It's not clear that Twitter can have the large-scale global appeal of, say, Facebook (which has its own growing pains) or TikTok.
It's unclear what Musk can do to reinvigorate some of Twitter's biggest celebrity accounts.
Musk is likely to fast-track the Tweet Edits feature that is already in development, as he made it clear during the acquisition effort that he was a fan.
What will Elon do?
What happens next is up to Elon Musk, or rather Elon Musk showing up to run Twitter. Is it the shining and safe hand that, through SpaceX, routinely transports astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station? The man who created the electric vehicle market with Tesla?
Can be.
It could also be the man who impulsively tweets his inner identity and EGO. Who jokes that "the next Twitter board meeting is going to be on," with a picture of him smoking a joint on Joe Rogan's podcast.
Sometimes there seems to be little middle ground for Musk, who is both enormously successful and wealthy and enormously impulsive and emotional.
The fear that Musk is leaving behind the worst elements on Twitter: Nazis, trolls, anti-vaxxers, Donald Trump, etc. - it is real. A free speech absolutist might demand that ALL voices be heard, even the most dangerous ones.
Still, Musk doesn't really know the inner workings of Twitter's extensive (and still flawed) content moderation system. He will soon. He can inspire different, more rational thinking about how to excite and energize Twitter for the future while protecting the most vulnerable who still use it every day.