It’s for actual this time. After months of legal drama, bad memes and will-they-or-won’t-they-chaos to place your favourite rom-com to disgrace, Elon Musk has closed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. Musk sealed the deal Thursday evening, taking Twitter personal and ousting a handful of high executives — CEO Parag Agrawal included — within the course of.
Musk reportedly cleaned house on Thursday, firing CFO Ned Segal, Head of Authorized, Coverage and Belief Vijaya Gadde and Normal Counsel Sean Edgett proper out of the gate. Although it’s nonetheless an aggressive and abrupt Day One transfer, Agrawal was inevitable, given his well-documented clashes and a failed virtual meeting with Musk. It’s additionally no shock that Gadde was among the many first to go, regardless of being a well-respected determine within the firm. Musk beforehand singled out the top executive with accusations of “left wing bias” over her position in coverage choice making at Twitter, driving a wave of racist hate and harassment her manner.
The highway to take Twitter personal has been a rocky one. Musk first started flirting with the thought of proudly owning Twitter in early April, when he purchased 9.2% of the company for $3 billion. However he didn’t cease there. Lower than 10 fateful days later, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO declared his intent to buy Twitter for $44 billion. Twitter accepted, however Musk quickly acquired chilly toes and pulled out all the stops to get out of the deal, landing the parties within the Delaware Court docket of Chancery. After enduring some embarrassing pre-trial discovery and dealing with a swiftly approaching date for his deposition, Musk introduced that he would follow through in any case.
It’s not instantly clear why Musk backtracked, agreeing to purchase Twitter in any case. It’s doable that Musk and his authorized crew learn the tea leaves on their coming trial, which was initially set to start on October 17. Twitter sued Musk over the summer time to pressure the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to observe by means of with the deal. Musk countersued Twitter in response, making unfounded claims that the corporate mislead him concerning the variety of automated accounts on the platform — a quantity that’s vital for advertisers and types who need human eyeballs on their paid adverts.
As litigation between Musk and Twitter ramped up, Delaware Chancery Court docket Decide Kathaleen McCormick made it clear that she wasn’t right here to humor Musk’s erratic shenanigans. In early October when Musk introduced, once more, that he would purchase Twitter if he might kill the upcoming trial, Decide McCormick solely agreed if Musk might close the deal by Friday, October 28. If he had missed the deadline, we’d all be taking a look at a recent Musk/Twitter trial date set for November.
On this, the primary day that Elon Musk formally owns Twitter, it’s additionally not clear which path Musk plans to take the platform. The chaotic and sometimes contradictory billionaire has up to now promised to revive former President Trump’s account, rid the platform of all automated bots, which personally hassle him as some of the adopted customers on the platform (good luck), and touted Twitter’s potential as a impartial floor sq. and a counterbalance to his complaints about conventional media shops, which at occasions don’t report on his goings-on favorably.
In actuality, Twitter is a struggling but extremely distinguished platform, one the place heads of state and hardcore porn frequently intermix and one which, after a protracted section of stagnation, had lastly begun to introduce enhancements to its merchandise and insurance policies. It stays to be seen if Musk will flip again the clock on these experiments or see some by means of whereas claiming to reinvent the wheel (monetizing creators, definitely an authentic thought!), but it surely’s tough to think about how he can accomplish any of his targets whereas doubtlessly gutting the company’s workforce. Musk’s denial of reports that he plans to cut 75% of Twitter’s staff is way from reassuring, contemplating that shedding a 3rd or half of workers would nonetheless price 1000’s of employees their jobs.
Musk has additionally talked a giant recreation about turning again Twitter’s moderation and platform security efforts, however he appeared to out of the blue notice how this would possibly make advertisers intensely skittish, publishing a letter reassuring them on Thursday. “Twitter clearly can’t grow to be a free-for-all hellscape, the place something might be stated with no penalties!” he wrote, backtracking on his guarantees to make Twitter a free-for-all hellscape.
We don’t know what the longer term has in retailer for one of many world’s greatest social networks however we do know that Musk has completed what as soon as was unthinkable, taking management of Twitter for $44 billion. However the conclusion to the monthslong saga is just the start of a brand new chapter of uncertainty at Twitter, elevating one million questions on what the platform is definitely value, what it’s for and what, precisely, he plans to do with it.
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