san francisco Elon Musk has completed the $44 billion purchase of short messaging service Twitter. Twitter informed the US securities regulator SEC on Friday about the delisting, thereby confirming the completion of the takeover.
This ends a month-long back and forth, which in the meantime was heading towards an explosive court case. Musk is now taking private ownership of the online network — the New York Stock Exchange has already delisted the shares. Elon Musk wrote on Twitter early Friday morning: “The Bird is Freed” – a nod to the network’s logo.
In one of his first official acts, according to media reports, Musk is said to have fired a number of top managers, including CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal. The top manager responsible for the fight against hate speech and false information, Vijaya Gadde, was among the dismissed, it said.
Agrawal and Segal were escorted by security forces from Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, insiders told Reuters.
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Officially, it is still unclear what role Musk himself wants to play on Twitter. The billionaire changed the self-description on his Twitter account to “Chief Twit” on Friday morning. According to a report by the financial service Bloomberg, Musk could initially take over the top post after buying Twitter.
In the long run, however, he could hand over the top job to someone else, the report goes on to say. Musk also wants to implement his announcement to abolish lifetime bans for users on Twitter.
Musk had until Friday to complete his acquisition of Twitter or fight the company in court. Musk had already visited Twitter headquarters on Wednesday and spoke to employees. Trading in Twitter shares will be suspended from Friday, according to the New York Stock Exchange.
Analyst Dan Ives of wealth manager Wedbush said: “Twitter’s $44 billion price tag will go down in history as one of the most overpaid tech acquisitions.” A realistic value for the platform would be around $25 billion, he suggested ives Musk was not able to get out of the purchase.
The fired executives at Twitter are to receive millions in severance pay, an insider reported. Agrawal will get $38.7 million and Segal $25.4 million.
Dismissal after a “very good conversation” with Musk
Commercial director Sarah Personette had tweeted hours earlier that she had had a very good conversation with Musk. She too is said to have been released.
Musk is said to have announced to investors that he would lay off 75 percent of Twitter employees. However, Twitter and Musk had called this number a false statement. At the end of last year, Twitter had 7,500 employees.
>> Also read: Report: Musk wants to drastically reduce headcount at Twitter
Elon Musk announced in April that he would buy Twitter. He had signed a purchase contract and said in advance that he would refrain from an intensive audit. Musk then accused Twitter management of underestimating the number of fake accounts on the platform.
Musk ended up terminating the purchase agreement. Twitter then filed a lawsuit against Musk to force the purchase.
In early October, Musk changed his mind and said he would go ahead with the acquisition of Twitter at the original price of $54.20 per share if the social media outlet drops its litigation. Twitter’s lawyers were suspicious of Musk’s motives, saying the Tesla boss’s proposal was an invitation to further mischief and delay.
A Delaware court judge finally ruled that Musk had until October 28 to close the Twitter deal or go to court.
Musk wrote an open letter to Twitter advertisers on Thursday. The portal should not become a “place of horror” where anything can be said without consequences, Musk said. The platform must be “warm and welcoming to everyone”.
Can Trump go back to Twitter?
Musk had previously justified the purchase with the desire to strengthen freedom of speech. Critics are concerned that the change in ownership will result in less moderated content on the network, fueling hatred and hate speech. That could deter advertisers. Technology investor Sriram Krishnan of fund a16z said: “I’m really excited about the future of Twitter. This platform has given me and countless others so much.”
The federal government said on Friday that it wanted to monitor developments on Twitter “very closely” after Musk’s takeover. EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton warned Musk in a tweet against making the short message service an unregulated platform: “In Europe, the bird will fly according to our EU rules”.
Musk will also decide on former US President Donald Trump’s future role on the platform. The Twitter leadership blocked Trump’s account after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol last year. However, Musk had announced that he wanted to lift Trump’s ban. The ban was “morally wrong and just plain stupid,” Musk said in May.
Musk takes over Twitter and fires senior management
The former US President was pleased with the takeover on Friday. “I’m so glad Twitter is in sane hands now and no longer run by left-wing crackpots and lunatics who genuinely hate our country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, a social media platform he co-founded. Twitter must now work hard to rid itself of all the bots and fake accounts that have damaged the online service. “It will be much smaller but better,” he wrote.
At the time of his suspension following the January 6, 2021, storming of the Capitol, Trump had more than 88 million followers. “Permanent bans fundamentally undermine trust in Twitter as a place for everyone to speak their mind,” Musk said.
Twitter could become universal app “X”.
Musk had already made initial announcements about the direction in which he could develop Twitter. In a Q&A with Twitter workers, he said, “Think of it like WeChat in China, which is great now, but there’s no WeChat equivalent outside of China,” Business Insider reported. There is now an opportunity to develop something comparable.
The Tesla boss continued, according to insiders, “In China, people practically live on WeChat because this app is so helpful and useful in daily life. I think if we can achieve that with Twitter, or even come close, that would be a success.”
WeChat is a universal app from the Chinese technology group Tencent. Company founder Ma Huateng, better known as Pony Ma, had WeChat developed as a copy of the messenger service WhatsApp in 2011.
Travel companies let their customers plan their next trip via WeChat, handle the billing and send QR codes to open the doors to the booked hotel. Media companies are spreading their news via WeChat, giving users the opportunity to interact with journalists and participate in virtual conferences. Even a divorce application can now be filed via WeChat. Overall, the platform has more than 1.3 billion monthly active users.
WeChat is described by critics as the perfect tool for government surveillance. This led to great distrust of WeChat in the rest of the world. In India, WeChat has meanwhile been blocked, and former US President Donald Trump has discussed publicly several times whether WeChat should be restricted or even banned.
With agency material
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