Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, said that he wanted to acquire one of the most popular social media platforms, until he said he didn’t. The Tesla CEO proposed the completion of a deal to acquire Twitter on Tuesday October 4th, reversing his long standing effort to terminate the agreement. In the end, Musk and Twitter progressed with the deal at its original offer price of $54.20 a share, which equates to a total cost of around $44 billion.
The completion of the deal marks the latest developments in the Musk and Twitter saga which started in January 2022. Earlier this year in April, Musk and Twitter had reached an acquisition deal. However, in the weeks that followed, he voiced concerns over bots and spam accounts on the platform, claiming that the numbers given to him were inaccurate and inflated. Twitter fought back and claimed that it had provided Musk with information in accordance with the conditions set out for the deal, before legal action was taken.
Learning this, it’s clear that this entire process has been long winded and quite messy. Let’s take a look at the weird timeline of Elon Musk taking over Twitter.
Late January – Elon Musk begging to show interest in and invest in Twitter.
March 14th – His stake in Twitter reaches 9.2%, making him Twitter’s largest shareholder.
April 5 – Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announces that Musk will join its board of directors. “He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term”, the Tweet reads.
April 10 – Musk says he will not join the Twitter board of directors. Agrawal announced that “Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board.”
April 14 – Musk offers to buy Twitter at $54.20 per share, valuing the company at about $43 billion.
April 25 – Twitter accepts Musk’s offer to acquire the company and values the deal at $44 billion.
May 13 – Musk publicly states that the Twitter deal is “temporarily on hold,” regarding concerns over what he says is the prevalence of bot and spam accounts. However, he says that he is “still committed” to the deal.
May 26 – Twitter shareholders bring a class-action lawsuit against Musk over alleged stock manipulation tied to the acquisition process. At the time, Twitter’s stock had fallen more than 12% since Musk announced his bid.
June 6 – Musk threatens to pull out of the deal if Twitter doesn’t provide additional information about the true quantity of bots on its platform.
July 8 – Musk attempts to pull out of the deal, pointing to the issue of fake accounts.
July 12 – Twitter sues Musk in Chancery Court in Delaware to force him to complete the deal.
July 19 – A Delaware court determines that the trial in a lawsuit brought by Twitter against Elon Musk should take place in October, granting an expedited timeline for the case.
Late September – Juicy texts between Musk and a range of business moguls were released ahead of the trial, revealing the celebrities in Musk’s orbit who were egging him on to buy Twitter (e.g. Joe Rogan, Jack Dorsey, Gayle King, Larry Ellison, and more).
Oct 4 – Musk finally proposes the completion of a deal to acquire Twitter, reversing his attempts of terminating the agreement. The proposal would complete the deal at Musk’s original offer price of $54.20 a share at a total cost of roughly $44 billion.
Now we’ve made it this far, what’s next?
On October 4th 2022, Elon Tweeted “buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app.” What X is, or what it will be, is not X-actly clear yet.
If we look at Elon’s reputation, he has a knack for disrupting industries. He’s managed to revolutionize payments, cars, rockets and satellites. Whether he will be able to successfully shake up social media remains to be seen. It’ll be a dream if we are able to say goodbye to Twitter bots tagging us in scam NFT mints. If anyone can do it, it’s Elon Musk.
