Elon Musk Is Buying Twitter For $44 Billion
Twitter invited Musk to join the company’s board of directors, in what looked like an attempt to mollify him, only for him to reject their offer. On April 14, Musk announced his intention to acquire Twitter outright and take it public. In an SEC filing, Musk said the company had “extraordinary potential” but that he had lost faith in the current management. Later that day, Musk said during a live interview at the TED conference that he wanted to buy Twitter for the “future of civilization.” At the same talk, he also described the SEC as “bastards” for bringing charges against him over a 2018 tweet where he said he was taking Tesla private.
Musk laid out his plans on securing funding for purchasing Twitter on April 20, at which point the board started seriously negotiating the sale of the company, according to the New York Times.
“The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing,” said Bret Taylor, Twitter’s board chair. “The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.”
Twitter users have responded to Musk’s acquisition in predictably polarized ways. While the billionaire’s fanboys are predictably thrilled that the service will now be owned by a tech bro who believes everyone should always be allowed to say whatever they want, others are concerned that his purchase signals the death knell for the company’s attempts to police the hate-speech, trolling, and doxxing that has long plagued the service and has invariably been directed at its most vulnerable users. Women journalists, scientists, and politicians such as Elizabeth Warren have been on the receiving end of online abuse after crossing swords with Musk on Twitter.
After Reuters reported on Monday that the board was planning to accepting Musk’s offer, #RIPTwitter started trending on the platform.
During a press briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded to the news. “No matter who owns or runs Twitter, the president has long been concerned about the power large social media platforms have over our everyday lives,” she said.
Prior to the final announcement of the deal, some US conservatives had expressed hope that a Twitter controlled by Musk would live up to his promises of promoting free speech above all else. Right-wing politicians have long complained that they have been censored by the Big Tech, despite studies to the contrary. Twitter in particular has attracted their ire for permanently suspending the account of Donald Trump after the former president was accused of using the service to incite supporters to storm Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021.
After the official announcement, NAACP president Derrick Johnson released a statement addressed to Musk: “Do not allow 45 to return to the platform. Do not allow Twitter to become a petri dish for hate speech, or falsehoods that subvert our democracy.”
Even if Musk did reinstate Trump’s Twitter account, the former president might not come back.
“I probably wouldn’t have any interest” in returning, Trump told Sirius XM’s Americano Media in an interview prior to all the Elon Musk excitement. “You know, Twitter has become very boring. They’ve gotten rid of a lot of their good voices … a lot of their conservative voices.”
Twitter invited Musk to join the company’s board of directors, in what looked like an attempt to mollify him, only for him to reject their offer. On April 14, Musk announced his intention to acquire Twitter outright and take it public. In an SEC filing, Musk said the company had…
