A Timeline To Elon Musk Twitter Takeover
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Roshan Amiri
- . April 26, 2022
- . Update: April 26, 2022 6:41 pm
The saga that started in January 2022, has now erupted into a full-blown display of power as Elon Musk moved from buying a small stake to acquiring the most vibrant social media platform, Twitter. It seemed like a well thought out strategy of the elephant entering the tent, bit-by-bit.
As he started to acquire shares in January, he also started to comment on Twitter’s inability to maintain ‘free speech’. Elon Musk began criticising Twitter for “failing to adhere to free speech.” “Worried about de facto bias in the Twitter algorithm having a major effect on the public; Twitter algorithm should be open source,” Musk tweeted on March 24.
A day later, in a poll post, Musk asked his followers: “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?” By March 26, he had put in a new thought, “a new platform is needed”. April 04 was when Musk actually purchased some 9.4% shares Twitter, winning himself a chair on the board a day later, where he took to Twitter, seeking yet another change, “Do you wish the edit button to be added?”
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CEO Parag Aggarwal had reasons to feel he would be a dangerous position as asked the world to vote carefully. “The consequences of this poll will be important.” By April 09, Musk had denied being on the board and let out yet another spark asking ‘Is Twitter dead?’ seeking the celebrities like Justin Bieber, Barack Obama and Kate Perry to comment.
Again, setting the scene for things weren’t right, by the next day, he was offering an all-cash deal to buy the company that its founder Jack Dorsey has called a ‘global consciousness’ and not a company. His advances troubled the company, to be forced to adopt the ‘poison pill’ mechanism, so that he could be kept at bay. The poison pill is a financial device that companies have been wielding against unwelcome suitors for decades.
By April 18, in a smart tweet, Musk quotes a Elvis Presley song terming ‘tender’ as economist believed as Musk’s attempt to float a tender to shareholders of the microblogging site. By the next week, Twitter starts to take notice and cannot ignore as Musk enters the doors of the castle, that has been well protected till now.
Come April 25, and considered one of the most authentic and sought-after sources of information sharing by media and individual users, Twitter has sold itself to become a full owned private company. It entered into a deal with Musk for $44 billion with each share being valued at $54.20 per share.
The decision was taken yesterday afternoon; which explains why Musk did not become a board member earlier. He now remains in the best position to make significant changes like adding the ‘edit’ button if at all, to the Twitter format. For the Twitter founder, – this was the right thing to do.
