San Francisco According to media reports, Elon Musk has taken control of the short message service Twitter. The $44 billion purchase of the platform has been completed, according to CNBC, New York Times, Bloomberg and Insider, among others. There was initially no response from Twitter to a Handelsblatt request.
In one of his first acts, Musk is said to have fired several top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal and Ned Segal. The top manager responsible for the fight against hate speech and false information Vijaya Gadde was among the dismissed, it said. The New York Times reported that at least one top executive was seen being escorted by security from Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters.
Musk had until Friday to complete the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter or take the company to court. Musk had already visited the 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: True price for Twitter would be $25 billion
Wedbusch analyst Dan Ives said, “Twitter’s $44 billion price tag will go down in history as one of the most overpaid tech acquisitions.” A realistic estimate for the platform would be around $25 billion ives Musk was not able to get out of the purchase.
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The fired executives at Twitter are to receive millions in severance pay, Insider reported. Agrawal will get $38.7 million and Segal $25.4 million. 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.
The further course of Twitter under the leadership of Elon Musk was initially unclear. 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 understating 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 wants to 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. Musk said Twitter shouldn’t become a “place of horror” where anything can be said without consequences. 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.”
Elon Musk will also soon have to 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 Parliament 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.
Trump was banned from Twitter shortly after his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6. At that point, he had more than 88 million followers. “Permanent bans fundamentally undermine trust in Twitter as a place for everyone to speak their mind,” Musk said.
With more than 83 million followers, Elon Musk is one of the most widely used Twitter users.
(Photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire)
Twitter could become universal app “X”.
Elon Musk had already made the first announcements about the direction in which he could develop Twitter. In a question and answer session with Twitter employees, according to a report by the US portal Insider, he said: “Think of it like WeChat in China, which is great now, but there is no WeChat equivalent outside of China.” There is now the chance to develop something comparable.
The Tesla boss continued, according to insiders, “In China, people practically live on WeChat because it’s 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.
More: Deadline for Twitter takeover on Friday – the most important questions and answers