After months of back-and-forth, Elon Musk has completed the takeover deal for social media giant Twitter.
After the takeover was completed, Musk initiated a clean-up of Twitter’s top brass. The CEO, CFO and Legal Head were all fired on his first day as the helm.
A back and forth process
The process of taking over was lengthy, with Musk meeting Twitter chairman Brett Taylor. The meeting with Taylor was successful, and Musk’s announcement that he would be joining the Twitter board came a few days later. He seemed satisfied with the board position at the time. Meetings with Parag Agarwal, CEO, did not go well. The billionaire then stated that he would buy the entire company.
Musk offered $44 billion to the Twitter board, a take it or leave-it offer. Initialy, the board decided that it would leave, creating a “poison pills” provision to prevent Musk from forcible takeover. After a few weeks, however, the board decided to accept the deal.
Free speech is the best!
Elon Musk has frequently criticized Twitter, stating it had lost its way by restricting freedom of speech. He said that Twitter was the world’s “townhall”, and that free speech was of paramount importance. He began asking questions about how many accounts actually exist on the platform. The platform was rife with bots for a long time.
Musk accepted his offer to purchase Twitter and began to request data from the company on how many users were actually using the platform. Musk was not content with the response from executives who stated that 5% of the accounts were bot accounts based on estimates.
Deal Collapsing? Not quite
After numerous clashes with Parag Agarwal, Musk announced in July that he was withdrawing from the deal. Twitter management claimed that the agreement to buy the company was legally binding, and that Musk could not withdraw from the deal. Documents show that Twitter claimed it had provided him with ample information about the real number of users on the platform. Musk claimed that the company could have many more bots than it claimed and even accused it of fraud.
After all parties had been preparing for a lengthy court case, Elon Musk announced that the deal was now in place. Twitter asked for the court case be delayed, and Musk was given until 17:00 BST to complete his deal. Musk has officially begun his tenure at the company. He has already made some major calls and cleared out the upper management.
Clearout for Management
Musk began to impose his authority on the company as soon as the takeover was complete. According to multiple reports, Parag Agarwal, Ned Segal, the CEO, and Vijaya Gadde the Head of Legal and Policy were all fired. Musk claimed that they had misled him about the number of bot accounts on the platform. According to reports, Segal and Agarwal were taken out of the premises immediately after the deal was closed.
Musk announced that he plans to transform the platform into a bastion for free speech, remove political echo chambers and eliminate spam accounts once the deal is done.
Binance Backs Acquisition
Changpeng Zhao, Binance CEO, announced that the exchange would support Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. The company stated that it would contribute $500 million to the acquisition of the social media giant. Binance had previously stated that it would finance the acquisition, and Binance looks to keep its word.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for informational purposes only. This article is not intended to be used for legal, tax, investment or financial advice.
