The year 2022 has been quite a year for Elon Musk. While the year started with Musk being Twitter's largest shareholder, 2022 ended with Musk being crowned as the company's CEO. However, this journey has been full of hate and some love. In case you were not able to keep track of how, what and when all of this happened, here is a quick recap;
It all started with a poll
On March 25, 2022, Elon Musk tweeted about free speech being essential to democracy. To see if Twitter really complies with this principle, he launched a poll for his followers. He mentioned that the consequences of the results are significant, hence vote carefully. The results showed that Twitter does not favour free speech.
Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022
Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?
The big revelation
Well, Musk dropped the first hint. On April 4, he publicly revealed himself as the largest shareholder of Twitter, with a 9% stake.
Oh hi lol
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 4, 2022
First of many offers
Just a day after the big revelation, Musk was eventually invited to join Twitter's board of directors. He did accept the offer initially.
I’m really happy Elon is joining the Twitter board! He cares deeply about our world and Twitter’s role in it.
— jack (@jack) April 5, 2022
Parag and Elon both lead with their hearts, and they will be an incredible team. https://t.co/T4rWEJFAes
A few days later
On April 10, 2022, the former CEO of Twitter, Parag Agarwal, announced that Musk had declined the offer to join the team.
Elon has decided not to join our board. I sent a brief note to the company, sharing with you all here. pic.twitter.com/lfrXACavvk
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 11, 2022
The start of the show
Musk declined the offer to join BODs. However, the show didn't stop there. What came next was quite a surprise. On April 14, 2022, Musk placed his bid to buy Twitter in a $44bn deal. He later launched a poll to see if people agreed that taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to shareholders and not the board.
I made an offer https://t.co/VvreuPMeLu
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2022
Taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to shareholders, not the board
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2022
Twitter accepts the takeover
Well, that was quick! Twitter accepted Musk's offer to take over Twitter in a $44 billion deal. Former CEO and co-founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, also supported the buyout as he trusted Musk to 'extend the light of consciousness.'
🚀💫♥️ Yesss!!! ♥️💫🚀 pic.twitter.com/0T9HzUHuh6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.
— jack (@jack) April 26, 2022
Wait, the deal isn't sealed yet
Here comes the first surprise. On May 13, 2022, Musk announced that he was putting his Twitter deal "temporarily on hold" as he had doubts about the data related to spam and fake accounts on the platform.
Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of usershttps://t.co/Y2t0QMuuyn
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2022
20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2022
My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate.
Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%.
This deal cannot move forward until he does.
The first meeting
While Musk kept on sharing his concerns regarding the data shared by Twitter to the public, he addressed the company's employees before acquiring it. On June 16, 2022, Musk had a virtual meeting with the staff at Twitter, where he shared his vision for the platform and also hinted at layoffs. However, he still did not clearly state whether he would buy the platform.
Did it end already?
It seems like Twitter didn't take Musk seriously. As a result, Musk decided to terminate the $44 billion deal on July 8, 2022. In his reasons, Musk stated that Twitter failed to provide him with data regarding spam accounts. Twitter later addressed the termination by publicly announcing that it is taking the matter to court.
The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery.
— Bret Taylor (@btaylor) July 8, 2022
Faceoff at the court
Twitter could not afford to lose the deal. Hence it took the matters to court by filing a lawsuit against Musk on July 12, 2022.
Twitter has filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery to hold Elon Musk accountable to his contractual obligations.
— Bret Taylor (@btaylor) July 12, 2022
Oh the irony lol
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2022
Twitter is not coming slow
After taking Musk to court, the next two months, i.e., August and September, were back to back filled with court hearings and countersuing. While Musk tried his best to slow down the hearing process, Twitter ensured that the deal took place as soon as possible. In between these trials, there was a series of revelations by a former head of security at Twitter, Peiter Zatko. He claimed that Twitter is misleading its users and BODs. His claims added fuel to the fire, so Musk tried to revise his case by adding new allegations.
Musk gives up
As the date of the trial came closer, Musk dropped another surprise. On October 4, 2022, he finally agreed to buy Twitter as per the previously agreed terms and conditions. The court gave both parties a deadline of October 28 to reach an agreement.
Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2022
Let that sink in
Well, quite literally! On October 26, 2022, Musk visited the Twitter headquarters in San Fransisco with a sink in his hand.
Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022
The bird is freed
On October 28, 2022, Musk announced the signing of the deal with Twitter. While Twitter got its deal, CEO Parag Agrawal lost his job the very day.
the bird is freed
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
Was it a happily ever after?
As soon as the deal was signed, Musk could not wait to implement his ideas. Musk started by revamping the verification system. He launched the new idea of charging a reduced price of $8 per month to let anyone verify their accounts. However, it didn't go well due to the massive misuse of the feature.
Going forward, accounts engaged in parody must include “parody” in their name, not just in bio
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 11, 2022
While the staff was busy implementing the new system, Musk was busy laying them off. On November 4, 2022, Musk tweeted that company was opting for layoffs due to a massive revenue drop. About 3700 plus employees lost their jobs.
Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.
Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.
A few days later, more employees were laid off for expressing a negative opinion against their boss.
Apple threatens Musk
In a series of tweets, Musk said that if Apple and Google remove Twitter from their app stores, he will make a new phone. He later visited Apple headquarter and resolved a misunderstanding with CEO Tim Cook.
I certainly hope it does not come to that, but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022
Is Musk done with Twitter already?
After sharing his plans for Twitter 2.0, laying off the majority of the employees and launching new features, Musk recently announced that he would resign as soon as he finds 'someone foolish enough' to take over his position.
I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2022
Well, that is all for now. The Twitter and Musk deal has been quite a ride for everyone. While Musk was busy handling things at Twitter, his other known company SpaceX has been making headlines too. The company's investors have been sceptical about Musk's ability to handle both SpaceX and Twitter simultaneously. While Musk juggles between the two, Twitter users can not wait to see what is next!
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