It has been a long-running saga: the deal to acquire Twitter, the wildly popular social media platform used by people around the world, by the world's number one billionaire and owner of Tesla, Elon Musk, who has finally managed to get the blue bird firmly in his grasp. After Musk's repeated changes of heart led to a lawsuit from Twitter's former board of directors, the latest development came on 27 October, when news outlets around the world reported in unison that various banks had begun transferring funds to support Musk's acquisition of Twitter, in order to meet the conditions requiring Musk to complete the various transactions involved in the takeover by 28 October.
For anyone who has been following news in the social media platform space, all of this may feel confusing, with so many events having taken place along the way. Today, Relevant Audience would like to take everyone back through this epic story from the very beginning of Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, and look at what may happen next now that Twitter has changed hands to a new owner. If you're ready, let's dive in.
A Summary of the Twitter Acquisition Saga
- The starting point of this entire story comes from a billionaire named Elon Musk, who is extremely fond of the Twitter platform. Elon Musk's personal Twitter account has as many as 80 million followers. Anyone who lives and breathes Twitter has probably seen some of Musk's drama or memes, because Musk likes to argue about various trending social issues through his tweets, to the point that at times the U.S. SEC has even ordered Musk not to use Twitter in order to reduce the various repercussions that followed.
- Musk has consistently said that he wants to support "Free Speech" more, and wants Twitter to reduce its content moderation of tweets.
- Then, on 4 April 2022, Musk announced that he had acquired Twitter shares worth USD 2.9 billion, equivalent to 9.2%, making Musk the largest shareholder on Twitter's board of directors. However, he declined to take a seat on the board.
- On 14 April 2022, Musk announced that he had submitted an offer to Twitter to acquire the company's shares, with a total value of USD 44 billion.
- On 15 April 2022, Twitter's board of directors used a "Poison Pill" strategy, which prevents anyone from owning more than 15 percent of the shares.
- On 25 April 2022, Twitter changed hands to a new owner, Elon Musk, at a value of USD 44 billion.
- On 9 July 2022, Elon Musk announced a change of heart about acquiring Twitter, citing the reason that Twitter had violated several terms of their acquisition agreement.
- On 12 July 2022, Twitter filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk on the charge of breaching the platform's purchase agreement.
- Elon Musk changed his mind once again and decided to acquire Twitter, along with a court order to close the deal by 28 October 2022, or else a trial might be held once more within November.
- News outlets around the world reported in unison that Elon Musk closed the Twitter acquisition deal in time, by 27 October 2022, with a total value of USD 44 billion. Musk was ready to step in as Twitter's new chief executive, and immediately dismissed the CEO, CFO, and the executives responsible for legal, policy, and trust matters.
Musk Appears at the Coffee Bar of Twitter's Headquarters
From a photo tweeted by Walter Isaacson, it can be seen that Elon Musk had appeared at the Coffee Bar of Twitter's headquarters. In addition, the news agency Reuters reported further that "Musk walked into Twitter's headquarters with a broad smile, carrying a porcelain sink, then tweeted the message "Let that sink in." He then changed the description in his profile to Chief Twit, and also promised employees that there would be no major layoffs, while reassuring advertisers that his various criticisms regarding Twitter's content moderation would certainly not create any problems for future operations.
What Will Become of Twitter Under the Shadow of Elon Musk
The decision to acquire Twitter, a platform that is already a market leader, can be compared to buying a ready-made platform that comes with both an enormous existing customer base and, on top of that, a platform he is fond of that aligns with his desire to build a Free Speech-style communication platform. This helps reduce the risk of having to start from scratch if he wanted to build an entirely new social media platform himself. He need only want something on the platform, and he can tweak and adjust it however he likes.
Successfully closing this acquisition deal can be considered merely the beginning. There are still many challenges awaiting Twitter under Elon Musk. As users, as well as brands or marketers who use Twitter as one of their digital marketing channels, we need to keep watching going forward, whether it be the edit-tweet button feature, the end of anonymous troll accounts, and many other things that Musk has promised he would certainly do once he officially owned the company. In the end, whether Twitter will grow even bigger and become the undisputed market leader across all platforms, or whether it will meet its end like other platforms of the past such as Hi5 or MSN, remains to be seen.
Final Thoughts
At this point in time, it is still difficult to summarise the overall direction of Twitter, because while some groups of users have expressed their congratulations to the new management, there are still many groups of users who hold the opposite view, gathering together and announcing that they will likewise stop using Twitter. Therefore, we may have to wait and follow the new updates from Twitter going forward. If there is any news or progress, Relevant Audience promises to bring it to you before anyone else.
Source: SEJ
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