Elon Musk is now the point of contact for anything Twitter-related. After months of negotiation and justification, he has officially sealed the deal: He is now in control over one of the world's most dominant social media platforms. And it didn't come cheap...
In early April 2022, the Tesla King studied his earnings from the platform, establishing that he already had a 9.2% stake in the company. Like any business magnate, he was determined for a higher receipt and eventually enquired for a $54.20 cash share. According to WSJ, this was Musk's "best and final offer." The former CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal, approached Musk on the topic of spam accounts disturbing Musk's future earnings, and he even threatened to drop the deal there and then. As the conversation went on, over and over again, Musk ended up re-opening his recent offer, and the deal officially terminated on October 6th. The trial was complete by October 27th, and Musk wasted no time in letting everyone know who was the new blue-bird boss.
The 51-year-old multi-billionaire initiated his new status by acknowledging Twitter users with a welcome tweet, "the bird is freed." According to CNN Business, Musk has already fired several executives, including the former CEO, CFO Ned Segal, and policy head Vijaya Gadde. Controversially, questions have been raised on whether the platform is now in safe hands. Rumors have come into play that Musk disagrees with Twitter's banning practice. Could previously banned users resurface just to preach the "free speech" approach? Nevertheless, the Space-X boss met with the San Fransisco HQ and released an open letter to Twitter advisers which distinctly says he has no intention for Twitter to become a "free-for-all-h*llscape where anything can be said with no consequences." To elaborate on his point, Musk also participated in an on-stage interview to which he explained, "My strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization." Although the platform tried to sue Musk for his negotiations, he pled his case, winning on his terms.
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So, what can we expect to happen to Twitter now? Following the elimination of now-former employees, Musk allegedly plans to now remove a further 75% of staff which could resultingly disrupt Twitter's entire course of conduct. Though social media has gone through profound changes over the past decade, time will only tell how the platform will be transformed by the influence of the richest person in the world.
