The final chapter of the Twitter battle! The craziest richest man "Musk" is about to be successfully acquired

"Elon Musk" tweeted "Yesss!!" 13 hours ago on Twitter, showing his excitement. I personally also replied "Yes" to his tweet. Haha~ Of course I know he won't see it, but as a small fan, I'm also excited for him!

Apparently, "Musk" has done his word again, the silent battle between him and Twitter's board is coming to an end, and if "Elon Musk" completes the deal, it will expand the world again The business empire of the richest man, and let "Musk" master one of the most influential social platforms in the world.

Musk to acquire Twitter

April 25, 3:05 p.m. ET: “Elon Musk” has reached a deal to acquire Twitter for about $44 billion.

The Twitter battle has finally entered its final chapter. According to a number of foreign media reports, Twitter has held a board meeting on April 24 to discuss the “Elon Musk” takeover offer. "Twitter's board has been in talks with 'Musk' about his unsolicited offer to buy the company, after he began raising $46.5 billion for the acquisition last week, according to people familiar with the matter. "

"The discussions followed a discussion of Musk's proposal at a Twitter board meeting on Sunday morning," the people said. Getting the financing commitment is how the board viewed Musk's $54.20 per share offer, the people said. A turning point that enabled the company's 11 board members to seriously consider his bid."

Look again from the beginning

Since the end of March this year, "Elon Musk" first launched a vote on Twitter, asking users if they thought Twitter abides by the principle of user freedom of speech, and at the time also emphasized that the result of the vote was crucial.

A few days later, "Musk" posted on Twitter "Need a new social platform?" On the same day, he posted another post "Given that Twitter is actually in the public domain, failure to abide by the principles of free speech fundamentally undermines democracy. It should be doing what?".

The time came to April 7 when "Musk" acquired a 9.2% stake in Twitter and became a larger peripheral shareholder, and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced on the same day that Musk was nominated to join the Twitter board of directors. "Musk" also said that there will be major improvements to Twitter in the next few months.

However, the next day, "Musk" suddenly refused to enter the shareholders' meeting. It is speculated that the Twitter board of directors will have restrictions on shareholding after becoming a director, and board members must not hold more than 14.9% of the shares.

On April 14, “Elon Musk” suddenly proposed to the “SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission)” to acquire Twitter for $4.3 million to privatize it.

Mentioned in the submission:

"I invested in Twitter because I believe it has the potential to be a global platform for free speech, and I believe that free speech is a social responsibility for a functioning democracy.
However, since making the investment, I now realize that the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal need in its current form. Twitter needs to transform into a private company.
So I offered to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium to the day before I started investing in Twitter and a 38% premium to the day before I publicly announced the investment. My offer is my best and final offer, and if it is not accepted, I need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.
The extraordinary potential of Twitter that I will unlock. "

On April 15, Twitter’s board discussed using a “poison pill”, a tactic commonly used against hostile takeovers, to counter “Musk’s” takeover. On the same day, Twitter announced that its board of directors unanimously approved a limited-term "shareholder rights plan", also known as the "poison pill plan", for a period of one year, which is expected to expire on April 14 next year.

On April 18, "Musk" announced to the public that he said in a document that he had received $46.5 billion in financing to acquire Twitter. Mainly borrowed money. The document shows that a group of banks led by "Morgan Stanley" is preparing to provide "Musk" with a $25.5 billion loan, including another $12.5 billion in the value of "Musk"'s Tesla stock as collateral. loan.

On April 24, Twitter’s board of directors held an internal meeting to discuss the acquisition of “Elon Musk”.

Why Twitter is reconsidering Elon Musk's takeover deal

In fact, looking back at the whole process of the Twitter battle, from wanting to slowly nibble to the general attack with a big hand, it is very interesting and ironic, "Musk" is all on Twitter, so can you say "Musk" Attacking the shield with his spear", Twitter has no way to stop it. "Musk" has more than 80 million followers on Twitter itself. He is Twitter's biggest fan and internet celebrity. He shares his views and news on Twitter, and even caused the "SEC" to intervene and demand Tesla Inc. The lawyer helped moderate his Twitter feed to avoid questions that were deliberately affecting the stock price.

Then let’s re-examine it. From March, “Musk” criticized Twitter’s speech censorship mechanism and violated freedom of speech. Then in early April, he temporarily became the platform’s largest shareholder. Although he likes to speak loudly on Twitter, he believes that Twitter does not respect freedom of speech, mainly because of its content moderation mechanism, so "Musk" believes that he can be better than the current Twitter. executors work better with it.

We can see that Twitter initially kept "Elon Musk" at a distance, and even resorted to retreating to get "Musk" on the board to become a director to stop "Elon Musk" ". In the end, the "poison pill" was used as a defense. After all, if the program was triggered, it would dilute the value of Twitter's stock and make the cost of any acquirer very expensive.

When "Musk" said on April 21 that he would have enough money to close the deal quickly. That created a situation where Twitter's board had to justify to shareholders that it was reasonable to reject a generous offer that was more than 10% above the company's current share price. Otherwise they will be subject to a collective lawsuit by shareholders. Makes Twitter's board of directors have to face this issue carefully.

By this time, Twitter's board was no longer in control, and after Twitter reported earnings on April 19, its stock price plummeted nearly 40%, while billionaire shareholder "Bill Ackerman" paid about $400 million. He sold his stake in Twitter and claimed he had "lost confidence" in predicting the company's future prospects, a remark that prompted Musk and Bill Gates to fight each other on Twitter (about "Musk"). "Follow "Bill Gates" Twitter anecdote, interested friends can check it online, I won't say much here).

Another point is that "Elon Musk" once said that if this deal is not completed, he will sell all his Twitter shares, you can imagine, this may lead to a loss of shareholders' confidence in Twitter , causing the stock price to plummet.

Conclusion: Is Twitter's future anything to look forward to?

Seeing this, I have to marvel at the methods of "Elon Musk". When Twitter announced on April 25 (yesterday) that it would sell it to "Musk" at a price of $44 billion, the general trend was determined. If There is no accident, the private industry of Twitter "Musk" can be said to be certain.

Again, most Twitter users in Taiwan may not feel much about its censorship, even less than "Facebook". However, in Europe and the United States, especially the United States, they hate Twitter’s speech censorship system (you can also check the relevant information online, so I won’t talk about it here), so why “Musk” can get the support of most people for his actions this time. , It goes without saying, and the management of Twitter has been unsatisfactory and even rigid over the years, which is also the cause of public criticism.

"Musk" said and emphasized that, as the owner of Twitter, he wants to expand the types of speech allowed on the social network. He also said in a statement: "Free speech is a cornerstone of how democracy works, and Twitter is a digital platform for speech, where people discuss issues that are vital to the future of humanity."

"Musk" continued: "I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making algorithms open source to increase user trust, defeating spam bots, and authenticating everyone. Twitter has enormous potential - and I look forward to working with the company and the user community to unlock it."

In the end, Elon Musk tweeted to everyone before Twitter officially announced its acceptance of his offer: "I hope even my worst critics stay on Twitter because That's what freedom of speech is all about."

Extended reading of "Dynamic Zone": Twitter founder: Musk is the best solution I trust! Twitter should be a "public good" at the protocol level

I personally look forward to change, and Twitter, as a brand that affects the world, its progress and impact on the world is definitely considerable. Of course, changes can be good or bad, but there are changes to make progress. A bad change means that it has not been accepted by the public and will naturally be eliminated. I look forward to Twitter getting better, even entering Web3 early and becoming a pioneer, so as to stimulate the entire industry, including "Facebook", to seriously improve and make the world a better place.

What are your thoughts on this wonderful business drama? support? Or against? Welcome to leave a message below to discuss.

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