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Acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk

November 24, 2023

Business magnate Elon Musk initiated an acquisition of American social media company Twitter, Inc. on April 14, 2022, and concluded it on October 27, 2022. Musk had begun buying shares of the company in January 2022, becoming its largest shareholder by April with a 9.1 percent ownership stake. Twitter invited Musk to join its board of directors, an offer he initially accepted before declining. On April 14, Musk made an unsolicited offer to purchase the company, to which Twitter's board responded with a "poison pill" strategy to resist a hostile takeover before unanimously accepting Musk's buyout offer of $44 billion on April 25. Musk stated that he planned to introduce new features to the platform, make its algorithms open-source, combat spambot accounts, and promote free speech.

Acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk
 
InitiatorElon Musk
TargetTwitter, Inc.
TypeAll-cash full acquisition
CostUS$44 billion
InitiatedApril 14, 2022
CompletedOctober 27, 2022
Resulting entityX Corp.

In July, Musk announced his intention to terminate the agreement, asserting that Twitter had breached their agreement by refusing to crack down on spambot accounts. The company filed a lawsuit against Musk in the Delaware Court of Chancery shortly thereafter, with a trial scheduled for the week of October 17. Weeks before the trial was set to begin, Musk reversed course, announcing that he would move forward with the acquisition. The deal was closed on October 27, with Musk immediately becoming Twitter's new owner and CEO. Twitter was taken private and merged into a new parent company named X Corp. Musk promptly fired several top executives, including previous CEO Parag Agrawal. Musk has since proposed several reforms to Twitter and laid off half of the company's workforce. Hundreds of employees then resigned from the company after Musk issued an ultimatum demanding they commit to "extremely hardcore" work. Linda Yaccarino was appointed CEO of X Corp. In June 2023, the Twitter service was rebranded as X.

Reactions to the buyout were mixed, with praise for Musk's planned reforms and vision for the company, particularly his calls for greater free speech, but criticism over fears of a potential rise in misinformation and disinformation, harassment, and hate speech on the platform. Within the United States, conservatives have largely supported the acquisition, while many liberals and former Twitter employees have voiced concerns about Musk's intentions. Since becoming owner, Musk has faced backlash for his handling of the company and account suspensions, including the December 2022 suspensions of ten journalists.

Prelude edit

Background edit

See also: Elon Musk § Twitter
 
Jack Dorsey, founder
 
Parag Agrawal, CEO
 
Bret Taylor, board of directors chair
Elon Musk communicated with Dorsey, Agrawal, and Taylor prior to proposing a buyout of Twitter Inc.

Business magnate Elon Musk published his first tweet on his personal Twitter account in June 2010,[1] and had more than 80 million followers by April 2022.[2] In 2017, in response to a tweet suggesting that he buy Twitter, Inc., Musk replied, "How much is it?"[3] On March 24, 2022, Musk began tweeting criticisms of Twitter,[4] polling his followers on whether the company adhered to the principle that "free speech is essential to a functioning democracy".[5] Days later, he discussed the future of social media with Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey and explored the possibility of joining Twitter's board of directors with private equity firm Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban. He relayed this idea to Twitter board chair Bret Taylor and CEO Parag Agrawal, proposing to either take the company private or start a rival social media platform.[6] Dorsey responded to Musk with a text message, saying he hoped Twitter could become open-sourced and that he had unsuccessfully pushed for Musk's induction into Twitter's board a year earlier, a move that had prompted his departure from his role as CEO.[7]

Early developments edit

Musk began purchasing Twitter stock on January 31, 2022.[4] On April 4, he announced that he had acquired 9.2 percent of the company's shares totaling $2.64 billion,[8] making him the company's largest shareholder.[9] Following the announcement, Twitter's stock experienced its largest intraday surge since the company's initial public offering (IPO) in 2013, rising by as much as 27 percent.[10] The next day, Twitter invited Musk to join the company's board,[11] which Musk accepted.[12] This had been recommended to the board by Twitter's Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee three days earlier, with some board members expressing concern about potential "adverse impacts on stockholder value".[6] The position would have prohibited Musk from going beyond a 14.9 percent ownership stake and limited his ability to speak publicly about the company.[13][6] That day, Musk phoned Dorsey, who declined Musk's suggestion for him to remain on the board.[6]

On April 11, after publishing several tweets critical of the company, Musk announced he had decided not to join the board.[14] Instead, he informed Twitter that he intended to make an offer to take the company private. On April 12, Twitter's board met with lawyers and financial advisors to deliberate the ramifications of such a deal as well as their options,[6] while a company shareholder sued Musk for allegedly manipulating the company's stock price and violating Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules.[15]

Buyout offer edit

Takeover bid edit

 
 Elon Musk   Twitter
@elonmusk

I made an offer
https://sec.gov/Archives/edgar...

April 14, 2022[16]

On April 14, Musk made an unsolicited and non-binding offer to Twitter to purchase the company for $43 billion, or $54.20 per share, and take it private.[17] Though the offer was made to company management, the bid was described as a hostile takeover attempt because of the implied threat to purchase the outstanding stock if management declined.[18][19] The board responded that it would "carefully review the proposal".[20] After making the offer, Musk spent the night playing the video game Elden Ring to alleviate his stress.[21]

In a TED interview, Musk said he aimed to make Twitter a "platform for free speech around the globe", hailing free speech a "societal imperative for a functioning democracy" and insisting that he had not made the offer to increase his wealth.[22][23] Critics noted that he showed more interest in altering Twitter's moderation policies than in fighting government censorship.[24] According to The Washington Post, the banning of accounts such as The Babylon Bee had prompted Musk to initiate the acquisition.[25] The price of $54.20 per share is believed to be a reference to 420, a slang term in cannabis culture for marijuana consumption.[26]

On April 15, Twitter's board of directors announced a "poison pill" strategy which would allow shareholders to purchase additional stock in the event of a hostile takeover; the plan expired on April 14, 2023.[27] On April 17, Taylor was urged by Twitter's largest institutional shareholders to "seriously consider" the offer.[6] On April 20, Musk disclosed that he had secured financing provided by a group of banks led by Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Barclays, MUFG, Société Générale, Mizuho Bank, and BNP Paribas, for a potential tender offer to acquire the company.[28][29] The funding included $7 billion of senior secured bank loans; $6 billion in subordinated debt; $6.25 billion in bank loans to Musk personally, secured by $62.5 billion of his Tesla stock; $20 billion in cash equity from Musk, to be provided by sales of Tesla stock and other assets; and $7.1 billion in equity from 19 independent investors.[30][31][32]

The initially proposed $13 billion in money borrowed by Twitter was equivalent to seven times the company's 2022 projected operating cash flow; some banks found that multiple too risky and opted to participate only in the $12.5 billion margin loan to Musk.[33] The debt was estimated to cost Twitter approximately $1 billion in annual interest and fees.[28] Two days after announcing his bid, Musk registered three holding companies under the name "X Holdings" in preparation for his takeover.[34] Tesla shares fell 12 percent on the day after the acquisition was announced, amid smaller declines in the broader markets. Musk incurred a $21 billion paper loss that day.[35]

Acquisition announcement edit

On April 23, Musk informed Taylor that his offer was "best and final", urging him to accept in a letter sent the following day.[6] Multiple outlets subsequently reported that Twitter was in final negotiations to accept Musk's offer, with a deal expected to be reached by the next day,[36][37][38] though Reuters cautioned that the deal could still fall apart.[39] On April 25, Twitter shares rose by 5 percent following reports that Twitter was poised to accept Musk's offer.[40] Twitter advisors Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase approved of the deal, deeming it fair from a financial perspective.[6] Twitter's board publicly and unanimously accepted the buyout offer for $44 billion, and Twitter was to become a private company once the transaction was completed sometime in 2022.[41][42] Negotiations with Musk were led by the board's transaction committee, composed of Taylor, Martha Lane Fox, and Patrick Pichette.[43] The deal would require shareholder and regulatory approval before it could be finalized,[44] though analysts believed it was unlikely to be challenged by regulators.[45]

Musk was barred from disparaging the company or its employees when tweeting about the acquisition before the transaction closed.[46] The agreement also stipulated that if Musk failed to close the acquisition, he would be required to pay Twitter a $1 billion breakup fee.[47][48] Agrawal was set to receive $39 million from the buyout, while Dorsey would receive $978 million.[49] Musk had privately selected a new CEO to replace Agrawal upon completion of the acquisition,[33] though he was expected to serve as interim CEO in the months after its completion.[50] Tesla's stock sank by more than $125 billion the next market day, causing Musk to lose about $30 billion of his net worth.[51][52] Within three days after Twitter agreed to be acquired, Musk had sold $8.5 billion of his Tesla shares.[53]

After the acceptance was announced, Musk said that his first goal would be to make the algorithm that ranks tweets in the content feed open-sourced, in an effort to increase transparency. He has also stated that he intended to remove spambots and "authenticate all real humans",[54] suggesting that he might convert Twitter's San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter.[55][56] Musk said he lacked confidence in Twitter's corporate management,[57] telling banks that he had considered reducing executive and board pay.[33] He published tweets critical of decisions made by Twitter executives such as Vijaya Gadde,[58] who was subsequently harassed by Twitter users using racist and sexist language.[59][60] On April 28, Twitter told advertising agencies that their work would not be seen next to offensive material.[61] Musk also discussed with bankers with the ideas of cutting jobs and costs, encouraging influencers to be creative, and adding subscription services to Twitter.[62][63]

On May 4, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom summoned Musk to discuss the effect of his buyout on free speech and "online harms".[64] Musk secured another $7.1 billion in funding the next day, including from Oracle Corporation co-founder Larry Ellison, Saudi prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud, venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, as well as sovereign wealth fund Qatar Holding.[65][66] The equity infusion reduced his original $12.5 billion personal bank loan to $6.25 billion and his required cash equity contribution from $21 billion to just under $20 billion.[32][67] On May 11, The Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had launched investigations into events leading to the acquisition.[68] The next day, Agrawal fired Twitter general manager Kayvon Beykpour and revenue product lead Bruce Falck.[69]

Attempted termination edit

Alleged hold edit

On May 13, Musk revealed that he had placed the deal "on hold" in the wake of reports that 5 percent of Twitter's daily active users were spam accounts,[70] causing Twitter shares to drop more than 10 percent.[71] Musk clarified that he remained committed to the acquisition,[72] and Agrawal stated he expected the deal to close.[73] In response to a May 16 Twitter thread in which Agrawal said an external review into the platform's users was impractical, Musk tweeted out a poop emoji.[74] The following day, Musk reiterated that the acquisition could not "move forward" until Twitter could prove the aforementioned reports false,[75][76] urging the SEC to investigate Twitter's daily user numbers.[77] The same day, Twitter filed new documents with the SEC, including a detailed timeline of Musk's purchase,[6] and affirmed they would "enforce the merger agreement" regardless of Musk's actions.[78] On May 25, Musk abandoned plans to partially fund the deal through margin loans against Tesla stock, instead opting to pledge an additional $6.25 billion in equity financing.[79][80] Dorsey departed Twitter's board the same day,[81] while Twitter investor William Heresniak filed a class-action lawsuit against Musk, alleging that he had violated corporate laws in California by manipulating the market.[82] The lawsuit further declared that Musk was not permitted by the acquisition contract to place the deal on hold, and that Musk's misleading statements had contributed to declining Twitter stock prices.[83][84]

 
Former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko claimed that the company had misled the public on its privacy and security woes.

On June 3, the acquisition was cleared by U.S. antitrust review.[85] In an email sent by Musk's attorney to Twitter three days later, Musk threatened to terminate his agreement with Twitter because the company had refused to give him data pertaining to its users.[86][87] Twitter responded that they would continue to cooperate with Musk to ensure that the transaction was closed in accordance with their agreement.[88] On June 8, Twitter's board complied with Musk's demands, agreeing to provide him with a "firehose" data stream of tweets.[89][90] A week later, the SEC asked Agrawal to provide information on how Twitter estimated its number of spam accounts, to which the company obliged; the SEC concluded its inquiry on July 27.[91][92] Musk attended an all-hands meeting on June 16 to answer questions from Twitter employees,[93] discussing Twitter's content moderation policy, freedom of speech, potential layoffs, remote work, and "the cosmic nature of Twitter".[94][95][96] Musk also expressed his desire for Twitter to reach one billion active users,[97] and pledged his commitment to advertising as a source of revenue for Twitter.[98]

In a complaint filed by Whistleblower Aid with the SEC, U.S. Justice Department, and FTC on July 6, former Twitter security officer Peiter Zatko accused several Twitter executives, including Agrawal and certain board members, of making false or misleading statements about privacy, security, and content moderation on the platform in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 and SEC disclosure rules. These included misrepresentations to Musk made during the course of the acquisition bid, with the complaint specifically calling Agrawal's May 16 thread deceptive.[99][100][101] In a July 7 conference call, Twitter revealed that over one million spam accounts were removed daily, and reiterated that it was impossible to externally determine the exact number of these accounts as it would involve private user data.[102] That same day, The Washington Post reported that the deal was "in peril" amid a slowdown in discussions on funding.[103]

Attempted withdrawal by Musk edit

On July 8, Musk announced his intention to terminate the proposed acquisition, claiming in a regulatory filing that Twitter was in "material breach" of several parts of the agreement by refusing to comply with Musk's requests for spambot account data and dismissing high-ranking employees.[104][105] In response, Taylor pledged to pursue legal action against Musk at the Delaware Court of Chancery with the goal of completing the acquisition,[106][107] with the ensuing lawsuit once again overseen by the Twitter board's transaction committee.[43] Twitter's stock sank by 7 percent after the news, dropping by a further 11 percent the next day.[108] On July 10, Twitter hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to represent its case, including "key lawyers" William Savitt and Leo Strine,[109] along with Potter Anderson & Corroon, Ballard Spahr, Kobre & Kim, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.[110] Musk again employed the services of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan after previously doing so for Unsworth v. Musk and SEC v. Musk,[109] including his personal lawyer Alex Spiro, as well as Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.[111]

Twitter formally launched its lawsuit against Musk at the Delaware Court of Chancery on July 12,[111] with Musk tweeting in response, "Oh the irony lol".[112] Twitter requested that the trial be held from September 19 through September 22,[113] before the deal's originally scheduled "drop dead" date on October 24.[114] Musk's legal team objected to this, asking for the trial to be held from February 13 through February 22, 2023.[115] On July 19, judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled that the trial would last for five days in October,[116][117] with Twitter seeking an October 10 start date.[118] During its quarterly earnings investor call on July 22, Twitter cited the "chaos" caused by the proposal as the primary factor for its decline in revenue.[119] In a letter to McCormick on July 26, Musk's lawyers complained that Twitter had hindered them from commencing the discovery process and requested an October 17 start date,[118] which McCormick granted three days later with a duration of five days.[120]

In a tweet on August 6, Musk challenged Agrawal to a public debate on Twitter's spambot accounts, before polling his followers on whether they believed that less than 5 percent of Twitter accounts were "fake/spam".[121] On August 10, Musk sold 7.92 million Tesla shares worth a total of $6.9 billion as backup should he lose the lawsuit, despite previously stating he would no longer sell Tesla stock.[122] The next week, McCormick ordered Twitter to produce documents from Beykpour, which Musk's team had requested along with files from 22 other Twitter employees and 41 "custodians".[123] Shortly thereafter, Musk subpoenaed Dorsey.[124] Other businessmen and investors subpoenaed include Marc Andreessen, Ellison, David Sacks, and Joe Lonsdale, while Twitter and Musk also subpoenaed Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Salesforce, Mastercard, and more. Sacks and Lonsdale were both irritated that they were being subpoenaed, with the former filing a failed motion to dismiss the subpoena. In total, lawyers for Twitter issued over 84 subpoenas, while Musk's lawyers issued more than 36.[110]

Facing increasing pressure from Musk, Twitter announced that it would combine its health team, tasked with preventing non-consensual nudity and child sexual exploitation on the platform, with its anti-spam team.[125] McCormick rejected much of Musk's team's "absurdly broad" request for data pertaining to all of Twitter's users, but ordered the company to produce data from 9,000 accounts it previously audit sampled.[126] Musk filed a "termination letter" with the SEC on August 29, citing Zatko's claims as evidence Twitter breached their contract,[127][128] before asking McCormick to delay the trial by a few weeks.[129] McCormick rejected the request,[130] and Musk's team sent a third termination letter to Twitter.[131] On September 13, Zatko testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee,[132][133][134] while Twitter shareholders voted in favor of the acquisition.[135][136] Musk privately offered to purchase Twitter at the reduced prices of $31 billion and $39.6 billion, both of which the company rejected.[137][138]

Revival and closure edit

Revitalization of bid edit

On October 3, Musk's legal team informed Twitter that Musk had changed his mind and decided to move forward with his proposed acquisition at the originally agreed-upon price of $54.20 per share, on the condition that Twitter drop its lawsuit.[139] The reason for this reversal was attributed to concerns from Musk's team that they would not be able to prove that there was a material adverse effect justifying a break from contract. Musk and Agrawal's depositions were originally scheduled for October 6 and 10, respectively.[140] Musk stated that his purchase of Twitter was part of his ambition to create an "everything app" called X, which would offer many different services.[141] In response, McCormick asked both sides to propose to her how they should proceed. Twitter shares surged by 23 percent as a result of Musk's announcement.[140] Neither Twitter nor Musk responded to McCormick's request, prompting her to announce that the trial would go forward as planned.[142]

On October 6, McCormick agreed to a request by Musk to postpone the trial to October 28 so Musk could finalize his debt financing for the acquisition, adding that the trial would be rescheduled to November if the deal did not close by then.[143][144] During this time, Musk deposited a $1 billion loan from his company SpaceX, paying back the loan with interest the following month.[145][146] On October 13, court filings revealed that Musk was being investigated by the U.S. government for his conduct in the proposed buyout.[147][148] Musk later stated that he believed Twitter's long-term value would exceed the price of $54.20 per share, which he considered an overpayment.[149] On October 20, The Washington Post reported that Musk intended to terminate 75 percent of Twitter's staff, and that Twitter executives were keen on selling the company to Musk so they could mitigate their planned payroll and infrastructure cuts.[150][151] In an open letter, Twitter employees condemned Musk's intentions and warned of negative consequences on the future of Twitter.[152][153] Bloomberg News and the Post further reported that officials in the Biden administration were considering a national security review of Musk's proposed acquisition and other ventures via the Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS),[154][155] with the possibility of U.S. President Joe Biden blocking the purchase if need be;[156] the White House denied the reports.[157][158]

By October 21, both parties' bankers and lawyers were set to complete the paperwork for the acquisition by the end of the month, with the deal expected to close by then.[159][160] The banks funding the acquisition were to hold the $13 billion worth of debt incurred as opposed to selling it.[161][162] In a video call with banks who helped Musk fund the acquisition, Musk assured them he would complete the buyout by the deadline.[163] Musk made a trip to Twitter's headquarters on October 26, tweeting a video of him carrying a kitchen sink at the site's lobby and changing his Twitter bio to "Chief Twit".[164][165][166] Musk also told Twitter employees that while layoffs were still likely to happen, he did not intend to do so at the scale the Post had previously reported.[167][168] The next day, Musk wrote in an open letter to advertisers that Twitter would not become a "free-for-all hellscape", reiterating that his motives for the purchase were not based on greed but rather a desire to create "a common digital town square".[169] He then asked Tesla engineers to meet with Twitter's product managers in order to assess the platform's codebase,[170] which was frozen until November 1.[171]

Completion of purchase edit

In the afternoon of October 27, Musk and Twitter closed the deal, with Musk tweeting "the bird is freed". Musk immediately became Twitter's new owner, promptly firing Agrawal, chief financial officer (CFO) Ned Segal, Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett,[172][173][174] with the executives escorted out of the company's headquarters by security.[175] This move came to the surprise of many involved, who had expected Musk to allow the executives to voluntarily resign; Agrawal had prepared a draft of his resignation letter before his access to his Twitter email account was cut off. According to Walter Isaacson's biography Elon Musk (2023), Musk "meticulously" changed his plans so "he could terminate their employment before their stock options would vest", seeking retribution for Agrawal's handling of the spambot incident.[176] Agrawal, Segal, and Gadde were set to receive "golden parachute" sums of $38.7 million, $25.4 million, and $12.5 million, respectively,[177][178] but The New York Times reported that Musk was unlikely to make the payments because the executives had been dismissed for cause.[179] According to the Financial Times, Musk's justification for this assertion was that the company had been mismanaged, and the executives were "weighing their legal options over the decision".[180] Dorsey retained his $1 billion ownership stake,[181][182] and several other executives departed Twitter in the ensuing days.[183][184][185]

Musk assumed the position of CEO,[186][187] merging the company with X Holdings and dissolving Twitter's board of directors.[188] With this merger, Twitter ceased to be an independent company, with X Corp. later created in March 2023 to house the company.[189][190] Musk uses the title "Chief Twit" to refer to his position as CEO.[191] A "war room" was established at Twitter, with Musk meeting with Spiro, Sacks, and others to discuss his next steps.[192] According to The New York Times, the group's two primary objectives were to reduce the size of Twitter's workforce and overhaul the platform's mobile app.[193] Twitter employees were not formally informed of the change in management,[194] with Musk originally said to be planning a town hall meeting with employees but ultimately not doing so.[172][195] The next day, Twitter shares ceased trading in accordance with Musk's pledge to take the company private;[196][197][198] the company's stock ticker was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on November 8.[199]

Post-acquisition edit

Main article: Twitter under Elon Musk
 
Musk appointed Linda Yaccarino CEO of X Corp., the successor to Twitter.

Since becoming owner, Musk has enacted a series of reforms, including overhauling Twitter's verification system by requiring new applicants to purchase a Twitter Blue subscription.[200] Many Twitter staff members were directed to extend their working hours in order to meet Musk's deadlines for his desired changes to the platform.[201] On November 4, Musk laid off roughly half of Twitter's workforce,[202][203] and two weeks later, he issued an ultimatum to employees to commit to "extremely hardcore" work in order to realize Musk's vision of "Twitter 2.0", or leave.[204][205] Hundreds of employees resigned in response.[206][207]

Meanwhile, Musk began restoring previously banned accounts such as Jordan Peterson, Kathy Griffin, The Babylon Bee, and Trump,[208][209] while suspending anti-fascist accounts at the urging of far-right figures,[210] as well as accounts that parodied Musk.[211][212] Musk also relaxed the platform's hate speech policies and removed its policy prohibiting COVID-19 misinformation,[213][214] resulting in an increase in hate speech.[215] In December, Musk faced backlash after banning ElonJet, a Twitter bot account operated by Jack Sweeney which tracked Musk's private jet in real-time using publicly accessible data.[216][217] These protests intensified when Musk suspended multiple journalists who had been covering the ElonJet incident.[218][219][220] Days later, Musk conducted a Twitter poll asking users whether he should step down as CEO of Twitter,[221][222] to which voters responded in the affirmative.[223][224] Musk stated he would step down after selecting his replacement,[225] and he was succeeded by NBCUniversal advertising sales chair Linda Yaccarino in June 2023.[226]

Musk's acquisition of Twitter was principally responsible for the development of Threads, a social media platform which closely resembles Twitter, by rival company Meta Platforms. Work began on the service in November 2022, and it was released on July 5, 2023, amidst continued backlash to changes to Twitter enacted by Musk and Yaccarino.[227][228] In response, Twitter threatened to sue Meta over intellectual property infringement.[229] Agrawal, Segal, and Gadde filed a lawsuit against Twitter in April 2023, claiming that the company had failed to pay them for the legal fees they had incurred during their tenure.[230] McCormick ruled in the executives' favor in October.[231]

In June, X Corp. sued Wachtell to recoup a portion of the $90 million fee the law firm had paid, accusing the firm of "unjust enrichment" for charging a bonus fee on successful completion of the acquisition when the agreement with prior Twitter management stipulated billing only on an hourly basis.[232][233] The Twitter app was rebranded as X in July, an unprecedented decision which has created confusion among users.[234] In September, Musk failed to appear before the SEC in response to the agency's investigation into his purchasing of Twitter stock the year prior, prompting a lawsuit.[235] The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2023 that the seven major banks that had provided Musk's acquisition loans failed to follow the standard practice of quickly selling down their exposure to other banks due to a lack of appetite for the debt since Musk took over, instead expected to mark down the debt by at least 15 percent in order to sell it.[236]

Reactions edit

Takeover bid edit

Following Musk's induction to Twitter's board of directors on April 5, Agrawal wrote that he believed Musk's appointment would bring long-term value to the company, while Dorsey wrote that Musk "cares deeply about our world and Twitter's role in it".[12] Dorsey privately relayed his appreciation to Musk for his commitment, texting that he trusted Musk.[7] On April 11, Agrawal stated that he believed Musk's withdrawal from the board was "for the best", noting that the company would "remain open to his input".[14]

Musk's offer to take over Twitter was met with both praise and criticism.[237] On April 14, Twitter employees expressed concern with Musk's views on free speech.[238][239] Media outlets expressed concerns that his proposed changes to Twitter would result in an increase in disinformation and online harassment.[237][240] Jim Cramer of CNBC opined that the Twitter board would have "no choice" but to reject Musk's offer due to potential personal liability faced by the board members.[241] On April 19, the National Urban League urged Twitter to turn down Musk's takeover bid, warning of potentially negative consequences on users' civil rights.[242]

Conservative and Republican commentators and politicians in the U.S. who believed Twitter discriminated against right-wing speech expressed enthusiasm for Musk's proposed changes.[237][243] On April 22, U.S. House Republicans demanded that Twitter's board preserve all records pertaining to Musk's takeover proposal, which sets the stage for a potential congressional probe following the 2022 midterms.[244] Jimmy Patronis, the Chief Financial Officer of Florida, praised Musk's offer and was critical of Twitter's "poison pill" strategy.[245] According to a poll conducted by Harvard University's Center for American Political Studies (CAPS) and the Harris Poll, 57 percent of American voters approved of Musk's purchase of Twitter.[246]

Acquisition announcement edit

Agrawal applauded the purchase and assured employees that no layoffs were planned at that time,[247][248] adding he was proud of Twitter employees "despite the noise" around the company.[58] He also led an all-hands meeting on April 29 to address concerns raised by employees.[249] Dorsey endorsed the sale, saying that "taking [Twitter] back from Wall Street is the correct first step" and that he trusted Musk to be the owner of the company.[250] Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo denounced Musk's criticism of the company.[58] Gadde allegedly cried during a meeting about the announcement and was subjected to online trolling.[251] Musk's June 17 meeting with employees was generally negatively received by participants, who found Musk's statements "incoherent" and "uninspiring".[252] Musk was repeatedly derided and mocked by Twitter employees on their internal Slack channels after the deal was brokered.[140]

Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Congress such as Jim Jordan, Yvette Herrell, Marsha Blackburn, and Ted Cruz praised the deal, calling it a restoration of free speech. Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers such as Pramila Jayapal, Jesús García, Marie Newman, Mark Pocan, and Elizabeth Warren criticized Musk and the buyout.[253][254] In June, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton launched an investigation into whether Twitter had misled authorities on its number of spambot accounts, alluding to prior claims made by Musk.[255] Former U.S. President Donald Trump expressed approval with the deal but stated that he would not rejoin the platform, even if he is unbanned, due to his preference for his own social media platform, Truth Social;[256] Musk later indicated his intention to reverse Twitter's ban on Trump.[257] Mexican President Lopez Obrador stated that he hoped Musk would rid Twitter of "the corruption that's there, manipulation with bots".[258] Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner Brendan Carr responded to calls for the agency to block the purchase by saying that it has no authority to do so, calling such requests "absurd".[259] Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, emphasized that "any company operating in Europe needs to comply with [their] rules", while the European Union (EU) announced that new online rules would "overhaul" the digital market and Tech Giants.[260]

By April 27, 30,000 new users had joined the decentralized network of servers running open-source Mastodon software.[261] Conservative Twitter accounts experienced a significant increase in followers, while liberal ones experienced a slight decrease;[262] additionally, thousands of left-leaning users deactivated their accounts following the buyout.[263] LGBTQ+ users and activists expressed apprehension about the deal based on tweets by Musk mocking transgender people, fearing that the re-platforming of suspended Twitter accounts would lead to a rise in online harassment and hate speech.[264][265] On June 3, a group of political advocacy groups which included the Center for Countering Digital Hate, GLAAD, and MediaJustice initiated a campaign to block the proposal by calling for a review of the deal by the government and a boycott of the platform by advertisers.[266]

Henrik Fisker, co-founder of electric vehicle maker Fisker Inc. and a rival of Musk's, left Twitter shortly after the acquisition announcement.[267] Amazon founder Jeff Bezos questioned whether Tesla's business interest in China would give the Chinese government leverage over Twitter via Musk, before answering that it would "probably not".[268][269] Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates questioned if Musk would allow the spread of public health misinformation, including vaccine misinformation.[270] Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales speculated that Twitter could either thrive or fall within five years under Musk's supervision.[271] Bitcoin investor Roger Ver and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong welcomed the buyout, citing the potential for reduction of perceived censorship on Twitter.[272] Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said that he hoped Twitter would improve over time due to its importance to society,[273] while Facebook and Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed confusion and uncertainty over the proposed buyout.[274]

Attempted termination edit

Edgett instructed employees not to share commentary on the purported cancellation; nonetheless, several Twitter employees posted humorous messages making light of the situation.[275] Tesla shares rose 2.11 percent in the hours after Musk's announcement.[276] Trump criticized Musk and called the acquisition "rotten",[277] which led to a protracted feud between the two.[278][279] With the exception of Trump, most conservatives sided with Musk, with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon attacking Twitter for allegedly lying about the prevalence of its spambot accounts and Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk musing that Musk may have been seeking to "expose" Twitter the whole time.[280] In an email sent to Twitter's employees in response to Zatko's complaint, Agrawal sharply rejected the claims and called them a "false narrative".[281]

Completion of purchase edit

Trump responded approvingly of the purchase after the deal was closed, saying that he was pleased Twitter was "in sane hands", rather than what he termed "radical left lunatics".[282][283] Other Republican politicians, including Dan Crenshaw, Darrell Issa,[284] Marjorie Taylor Greene,[285] Marsha Blackburn,[192] Anthony Sabatini, Amy Kremer,[286] Lauren Boebert, Dick Black,[287] Cruz,[288] and Jordan applauded the purchase as well. Democrat Amy Klobuchar voiced her distrust of Musk and called for tighter government regulation of the platform,[289] while Democrat Chris Murphy advocated for a federal investigation into the role of Saudi Arabia in the purchase.[290] Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia and former President of Russia, was pleased with the news, stating that he hoped Twitter would eliminate "political bias and ideological dictatorship". Breton again emphasized that Twitter was bound by the EU's laws,[291] alluding to the recently passed Digital Services Act.[292]

Internally, Twitter employees expressed concern that Musk would lay off employees before they receive their compensation payments,[178] among other messages criticizing Musk and voicing solidarity with each other.[287] Amid conflicting reports on whether Musk was planning sweeping layoffs, many employees expressed uncertainty and fear on Slack, Discord, and LinkedIn.[293][294] Women's rights activist Seyi Akiwowo tweeted her disappointment with Gadde's dismissal, while children's rights activist Beeban Kidron said that Musk's newfound power would not result in more free speech.[292] Podcaster Joe Rogan praised Musk for his aspirations,[289] while right-wing Twitter account Libs of TikTok rejoiced over the news of the purchase.[288] Media personality Stew Peters, who had been blocked from Twitter for months, attempted to circumvent the block after the purchase using a new account, which was later suspended.[287] Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled RT broadcasting service, demanded that Musk lift her Twitter suspension.[195] Bin Talal Al Saud congratulated Musk on the purchase,[287] and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon urged Musk to eradicate spambot accounts.[295] Tesla rival General Motors announced it would temporarily stop paid advertising on Twitter.[291] Advertising agencies IPG Mediabrands and Omnicom Media Group recommended their clients temporarily pause advertising on Twitter due to safety and trust concerns over Musk's ownership.[296][297] A slew of companies proceeded to do so, including Audi, Bentley, the Carlsberg Group, General Mills, Lamborghini, Mondelez International, Porsche, Pfizer, REI, and the Volkswagen Group.[298][299] Media buying agency GroupM also advised its clients against procuring advertisements from Twitter.[300] Alt-tech social media platform Parler welcomed Musk's purchase, while alt-tech platform Gettr was more skeptical, believing Twitter was "fundamentally broken".[301] Similarities have been drawn between the acquisition and the 2022 film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, with some viewers comparing Musk to the character of Miles Bron, though director Rian Johnson stated that the similarities were purely coincidental.[302][303]

Online reception to Musk's completion of the purchase was mixed.[304] According to Memetica, a digital investigations company, several far-right figures experienced a significant increase in followers after the deal was finalized, while many progressives experienced a significant decrease, although it is unclear if Musk's takeover drove the changes in followers.[305] Mastodon once again experienced a surge in sign-ups.[306] Multiple celebrities in the entertainment industry announced their departure from the platform,[307][308] while some left-wing influencers such as John Pavlovitz and Rob Reiner urged fellow leftists to remain on Twitter for the time being.[307][305] The Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) observed a 500 percent spike in the use of the racial slur "nigger" in the 12 hours after Musk completed the acquisition, while The Washington Post noted an increase in pro-Nazi, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQ+ tweets.[195] Basketball player LeBron James expressed concern over the NCRI's report, condemning "unfit people saying hate speech is free speech".[309] Twitter responded by saying that the accounts using racial slurs were part of a "trolling campaign" and would be banned summarily.[310][311] The Center for Countering Digital Hate reported that anti-Black, anti-gay, and anti-transgender slurs had increased since Musk took control of Twitter, while the Anti-Defamation League reported an increase in antisemitic content.[312]

Critical analysis edit

Takeover bid and acquisition announcement edit

Anticipating a takeover, Elizabeth Lopatto of The Verge predicted that it would lead to a mass employee exodus and a possible reinstatement of Trump's Twitter account.[313] After the acquisition announcement, Alex Werpin of The Hollywood Reporter warned of widespread repercussions.[314] Greg Bensinger of The New York Times argued that Musk's acquisition was "about controlling a megaphone" rather than free speech,[315] while Elizabeth Dwoskin of The Washington Post remarked that Musk's free speech vision for Twitter was considered by technologists to be outdated and impractical.[316] Don Pittis of CBC News noted the controversy associated with the wealthy gaining control of media platforms.[317] Brendan O'Neill of Spiked observed that Musk's purchase of Twitter and the resulting backlash represented a "battle for control of the Internet",[318] with Business Insider's Ben Gilbert calling the purchase the latest "battleground" in the culture war between Democrats and Republicans.[319] Michael Hiltzik of The Seattle Times commented that Musk's impact on Twitter would depend on his policies and how he chooses to implement them.[320] David Auerbach of UnHerd saw the purchase as indicative of a "major flashpoint" in the transition of society to "a more decentralized, chaotic, and devolved world".[321] Paul R. La Monica of CNN Business suggested that Tesla's declining stock price indicated that Wall Street investors were doubtful on whether Musk's purchase would go through.[322] CleanTechnica's Matt Pressman believed that Musk's purchase would benefit Tesla because owners of the company's cars often engaged on the platform,[323] and Lindsey Bakes of Deseret News wrote that Musk could integrate cryptocurrency within Twitter.[324]

Kevin D. Williamson of American conservative magazine National Review likened Musk's purchase of Twitter to the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign, labeling it a publicity stunt,[325] his colleague Rich Lowry said that liberal politicians' strong reaction to Musk's purchase was an indication that Twitter's existing policies had "political consequences",[326] and the editors of the publication wished Musk well in his quest to promote free speech on Twitter.[327] Bonnie Kristian of evangelical magazine Christianity Today felt that the purchase would only "add to the confusion" surrounding the contentious debate on free speech,[328] while Paris Marx of American socialist magazine Jacobin dismissed Musk's proclamations that he sought to protect free speech as an "example of his hubris".[329] Corbin K. Barthold of conservative public policy magazine City Journal believed it would be difficult but "worth the struggle" to end censorship on Twitter,[330] while Peter van Buren of The Spectator World opined that Musk should simply take Twitter offline.[331] Cathy Young of center-right news website The Bulwark felt that Musk's planned reforms to Twitter were "unlikely to succeed", further observing that commentators who opposed the purchase viewed it as right-wing backlash against "perceived left-wing social media bias".[332] Robby Soave of American libertarian magazine Reason postulated that Musk's purchase would not threaten Twitter or democracy, suggesting that those overstating the importance of the platform were "Musk's critics in progressive and mainstream media",[333] with James McElroy of The American Conservative further arguing that many journalists' condemnation of the acquisition was motivated by "professional anxiety".[334] J. Robert McClure III of American conservative magazine Washington Examiner and Ben Shapiro of American conservative news website The Daily Signal declared that the negative reaction to Musk's purchase was rooted in an opposition to the idea of free speech.[335][336]

Equity analyst Angelo Zino believed that Twitter's acceptance of Musk's proposal may have stemmed from its realization that alternative bidders would be unlikely to emerge due to social media companies' declining asset prices.[57] Associate professor Brian Quinn of Boston College Law School noted that it would be difficult for Musk to arbitrarily pull out of the deal due to the contractual doctrines of fair dealing and good faith.[337] Kate Klonick, a law professor at St. John's University, argued that to allow "all free speech" to exist on Twitter would open the door to the spread of pornography and hate speech.[338] Similarly, Joan Donovan, research director at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, stated that the lack of moderation on Twitter would lead to online harassment.[339] Bill George, a senior fellow at Harvard Business School and former CEO of Medtronic, argued that Musk's purchase of Twitter would harm both society and Musk himself,[340] while analyst Mike Proulx of Forrester Research cautioned that other companies may leave Twitter if Musk loosens its moderation policies.[341] Proprietary trader Dennis Dick opined that Musk's spambot claims were tactics by him to lower the price of the purchase.[342] Analysts noted that the involvement of foreign entities as independent investors could cause the transaction to face national security scrutiny by the CFIUS.[343][344] Left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America and think tank Australian Strategic Policy Institute suggested that China could use its influence to extract political concessions or manipulate Twitter due to Musk's ties to the country.[345][346] American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) executive director Anthony D. Romero warned of the potential danger of Musk wielding excessive power.[347]

Attempted termination edit

Following Musk's announcement that he intended to terminate the agreement, legal experts generally agreed it would be difficult for him to do so.[348] Law professor James Park of the University of California, Los Angeles found Musk's spambot argument weak and doubted it was material, while Case Western Reserve University business law professor Anat Alon-Beck observed that Twitter was compelled to enforce the merger so as to disprove Musk's allegations. Professor Jennifer Grygiel of Syracuse University mused that Musk may reverse course and revisit the deal.[349] Tulane University Law School associate dean for faculty research Ann Lipton and mergers and acquisitions expert Julian Klymochko both expressed doubts that Musk could prove there was a material adverse effect.[350][351]

Felix Salmon of Axios noted that a clause in the contract opened the door for a judge to grant specific performance and order Musk to move forward with the deal.[352] CNBC's Jonathan Vanian described Musk's withdrawal as the product of months of buyer's remorse,[353] while his colleague Alex Sherman observed that paying the stipulated breakup fee would not relieve Musk of compensations or sanctions.[354] Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Holman W. Jenkins Jr. questioned whether Musk had proposed the acquisition "out of mouth momentum or excessive enjoyment of the limelight or for some mysterious reason that causes an onlooker to throw up his hands".[355] Various news publications believed that Zatko's complaint provided potential evidence in Musk's favor,[356][357][358] though Bloomberg News columnist Matt Levine argued that the complaint confirmed Twitter's monetizable daily active users counts do not include spambots.[359]

Revitalization of bid edit

Greg Varallo of the Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann law firm observed that if Musk fails to secure funding and close the acquisition, he could be barred from claiming that he can terminate the acquisition as per the legal doctrine of judicial estoppel.[360] New York University's Center for Social Media and Politics executive director Zeve Sanderson cautioned that if Musk does lay off 75 percent of Twitter's workforce, it would make it more difficult for the company to moderate its content. Professor David Kaye of the University of California, Irvine School of Law and Professor Eric Goldman of the Santa Clara University School of Law concurred, warning of a potential increase in misinformation and harassment on the platform. However, they noted that the layoffs could still be mitigated through an increase in automated content moderation.[361]

Completion of purchase edit

Conservative commentators celebrated the purchase's closure.[285][288][362] Fox News host Tucker Carlson argued that Musk's laissez-faire approach to moderation on Twitter would reshape American political discourse.[362] Shapiro wrote that he hoped other social media platforms would implement Musk's proposals and called on Musk to reverse Peterson's suspension from Twitter.[285][288][362] Political commentator Matt Walsh saw the purchase as an opportunity to rally opposition against the "trans agenda".[195][362] Political columnist Benny Johnson called on Musk to reverse the suspensions of several prominent conservatives.[285] Spiked's O'Neill claimed that liberals' negative reaction to the closure reflected their fear of freedom and liberty,[363] while Washington Examiner's Christopher Tremoglie disapproved of Musk's idea for a moderation council as continued censorship.[364]

Lauren Hirsch of The New York Times observed that Musk would face financial challenges in owning Twitter, including the company's difficulty in turning a profit.[365] Richard Waters of the Financial Times echoed Hirsch's sentiments, adding that it would difficult for Musk to allow the right amount of free speech on the platform.[366] Kate Ferguson of Deutsche Welle viewed Musk as unreliable and therefore unfit to operate Twitter,[367] and Hamilton Nolan of The Guardian felt the purchase was an attempt by Musk to "control the conversation".[368] Barbara Ortutay, Tom Krisher and Matt O'Brien of the Associated Press noted Musk's contradictory and vague messages in the past regarding his vision for Twitter,[369] while Ben Burgis of Jacobin criticized liberals' technocratic views and their downplaying of the importance of free speech in response to the purchase, though he remarked that Musk had a history of suppressing his critics.[370] Also writing for The New York Times, Kate Conger, Ryan Mac, and Tiffany Hsu noted that Musk's meetings with civil rights activists and his plans for a content moderation council were reminiscent of the actions taken by Zuckerberg following backlash on Facebook's handling of the 2016 U.S. elections.[371] Politico's Jack Shafer noted that media coverage of Musk's purchase foretold "chaos, greater political oversight, and outright failure."[372]

Edward Niedermeyer, an author and critic of Musk, argued that Twitter may fail due to Musk's hubris.[372] Scholars who studied the First Amendment, such as professor Jonathan Turley of the George Washington University Law School, praised Musk's plans to tone down content moderation on Twitter.[295] New York University's Center for Business and Human Rights deputy director Paul M. Barrett speculated that a moderation council under Musk would face skepticism due to Musk's "erratic and imperious" behavior in the past.[195] Alex Stamos of Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation questioned how Musk would respond to foreign governments attempting to influence Twitter's userbase.[195] Those in the cryptocurrency field, such as podcaster Bryce Paul and investor Cathie Wood, expressed excitement at the prospects of Musk's ownership.[295]

Media Matters for America president Angela Carusone warned that Musk's leadership would lead to an increase in disinformation, conspiracy theories, and harassment on Twitter.[373] Literary group PEN America opined that the midterm elections in November would serve as a test as to whether Musk would allow disinformation to spread rapidly on the platform,[374] while American left-wing activist coalition Stop the Deal warned of real-world consequences if a rise in hate speech occurs on Twitter.[291][195] Over 40 civil rights groups signed an open letter to 20 Twitter advertisers urging them to abandon the platform if Musk lifts its content moderation measures.[183] Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said he was "cautiously optimistic" about the purchase, but expressed concerns over a potential rise in hate speech.[373] Fight for the Future director Evan Greer appreciated Musk's idea for a moderation council, but noted that Musk had supreme authority on any decisions made.[192] Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat believed that Musk's attempts to promote free speech would backfire under increased government regulation.[284] LGBTQ+ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign voiced concern at Twitter's new ownership and argued that Twitter has the responsibility to stop its platform from turning into a "dangerous media environment".[195]

Legacy edit

On the first anniversary of the acquisition, Musk valued the company at $19 billion, a 55 percent decrease from the buyout's $44 billion purchase price.[375][376] Fidelity, which contributed $300 million to the acquisition, depressed the value by 65 percent.[377] Statistics indicated a 30 percent decline in active users, 60 percent decline in advertising,[378] 14 percent decline in website traffic,[379] and 38 percent decline in app downloads.[380] The company has refuted these metrics, reporting an increase in engagement.[379] A nonfiction book about the acquisition, Breaking Twitter: Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History, was announced by author Ben Mezrich in December 2022 and released in November 2023.[381][382]

Many publications reflected on Twitter's first year under Musk's ownership. Journalists for The Washington Post, citing data from the University of Washington, wrote that the platform had "become a cacophony of misinformation and confusing reports", remarking on Twitter's stark shift toward conservatism.[383] Pranav Dixit of The Guardian lambasted the changes and reforms Musk had instituted in the past year,[384] while Miles Klee of Rolling Stone criticized Musk's alleged pandering to "right-wing extremists and peddlers of misinformation".[385] The Verge's Jay Peters pointed to Musk's radical changes and declining user numbers as evidence that the takeover was a "disaster",[386] while Bloomberg's Aisha Counts zeroed in on the increase in misinformation and hate speech.[387] Kate Conger of The New York Times and Alex Kirshner of Slate lamented that Musk's acquisition had fundamentally changed the meaning of Twitter.[388][389] Annika Burgess of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation declared, "Twitter as the world knew it is dead".[390] Musk has largely dismissed this negative commentary.[391][392][393]

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November 24, 2023
acquisition, twitter, elon, musk, been, suggested, that, rahul, ligma, merged, into, this, article, discuss, proposed, since, october, 2023, business, magnate, elon, musk, initiated, acquisition, american, social, media, company, twitter, april, 2022, conclude. It has been suggested that Rahul Ligma be merged into this article Discuss Proposed since October 2023 Business magnate Elon Musk initiated an acquisition of American social media company Twitter Inc on April 14 2022 and concluded it on October 27 2022 Musk had begun buying shares of the company in January 2022 becoming its largest shareholder by April with a 9 1 percent ownership stake Twitter invited Musk to join its board of directors an offer he initially accepted before declining On April 14 Musk made an unsolicited offer to purchase the company to which Twitter s board responded with a poison pill strategy to resist a hostile takeover before unanimously accepting Musk s buyout offer of 44 billion on April 25 Musk stated that he planned to introduce new features to the platform make its algorithms open source combat spambot accounts and promote free speech Acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk InitiatorElon MuskTargetTwitter Inc TypeAll cash full acquisitionCostUS 44 billionInitiatedApril 14 2022CompletedOctober 27 2022Resulting entityX Corp In July Musk announced his intention to terminate the agreement asserting that Twitter had breached their agreement by refusing to crack down on spambot accounts The company filed a lawsuit against Musk in the Delaware Court of Chancery shortly thereafter with a trial scheduled for the week of October 17 Weeks before the trial was set to begin Musk reversed course announcing that he would move forward with the acquisition The deal was closed on October 27 with Musk immediately becoming Twitter s new owner and CEO Twitter was taken private and merged into a new parent company named X Corp Musk promptly fired several top executives including previous CEO Parag Agrawal Musk has since proposed several reforms to Twitter and laid off half of the company s workforce Hundreds of employees then resigned from the company after Musk issued an ultimatum demanding they commit to extremely hardcore work Linda Yaccarino was appointed CEO of X Corp In June 2023 the Twitter service was rebranded as X Reactions to the buyout were mixed with praise for Musk s planned reforms and vision for the company particularly his calls for greater free speech but criticism over fears of a potential rise in misinformation and disinformation harassment and hate speech on the platform Within the United States conservatives have largely supported the acquisition while many liberals and former Twitter employees have voiced concerns about Musk s intentions Since becoming owner Musk has faced backlash for his handling of the company and account suspensions including the December 2022 suspensions of ten journalists Contents 1 Prelude 1 1 Background 1 2 Early developments 2 Buyout offer 2 1 Takeover bid 2 2 Acquisition announcement 3 Attempted termination 3 1 Alleged hold 3 2 Attempted withdrawal by Musk 4 Revival and closure 4 1 Revitalization of bid 4 2 Completion of purchase 4 3 Post acquisition 5 Reactions 5 1 Takeover bid 5 2 Acquisition announcement 5 3 Attempted termination 5 4 Completion of purchase 6 Critical analysis 6 1 Takeover bid and acquisition announcement 6 2 Attempted termination 6 3 Revitalization of bid 6 4 Completion of purchase 7 Legacy 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External linksPrelude editBackground edit See also Elon Musk Twitter nbsp Jack Dorsey founder nbsp Parag Agrawal CEO nbsp Bret Taylor board of directors chairElon Musk communicated with Dorsey Agrawal and Taylor prior to proposing a buyout of Twitter Inc Business magnate Elon Musk published his first tweet on his personal Twitter account in June 2010 1 and had more than 80 million followers by April 2022 2 In 2017 in response to a tweet suggesting that he buy Twitter Inc Musk replied How much is it 3 On March 24 2022 Musk began tweeting criticisms of Twitter 4 polling his followers on whether the company adhered to the principle that free speech is essential to a functioning democracy 5 Days later he discussed the future of social media with Twitter co founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey and explored the possibility of joining Twitter s board of directors with private equity firm Silver Lake co CEO Egon Durban He relayed this idea to Twitter board chair Bret Taylor and CEO Parag Agrawal proposing to either take the company private or start a rival social media platform 6 Dorsey responded to Musk with a text message saying he hoped Twitter could become open sourced and that he had unsuccessfully pushed for Musk s induction into Twitter s board a year earlier a move that had prompted his departure from his role as CEO 7 Early developments edit Musk began purchasing Twitter stock on January 31 2022 4 On April 4 he announced that he had acquired 9 2 percent of the company s shares totaling 2 64 billion 8 making him the company s largest shareholder 9 Following the announcement Twitter s stock experienced its largest intraday surge since the company s initial public offering IPO in 2013 rising by as much as 27 percent 10 The next day Twitter invited Musk to join the company s board 11 which Musk accepted 12 This had been recommended to the board by Twitter s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee three days earlier with some board members expressing concern about potential adverse impacts on stockholder value 6 The position would have prohibited Musk from going beyond a 14 9 percent ownership stake and limited his ability to speak publicly about the company 13 6 That day Musk phoned Dorsey who declined Musk s suggestion for him to remain on the board 6 On April 11 after publishing several tweets critical of the company Musk announced he had decided not to join the board 14 Instead he informed Twitter that he intended to make an offer to take the company private On April 12 Twitter s board met with lawyers and financial advisors to deliberate the ramifications of such a deal as well as their options 6 while a company shareholder sued Musk for allegedly manipulating the company s stock price and violating Securities and Exchange Commission SEC rules 15 Buyout offer editTakeover bid edit nbsp Elon Musk nbsp Twitter elonmusk I made an offerhttps sec gov Archives edgar April 14 2022 16 On April 14 Musk made an unsolicited and non binding offer to Twitter to purchase the company for 43 billion or 54 20 per share and take it private 17 Though the offer was made to company management the bid was described as a hostile takeover attempt because of the implied threat to purchase the outstanding stock if management declined 18 19 The board responded that it would carefully review the proposal 20 After making the offer Musk spent the night playing the video game Elden Ring to alleviate his stress 21 In a TED interview Musk said he aimed to make Twitter a platform for free speech around the globe hailing free speech a societal imperative for a functioning democracy and insisting that he had not made the offer to increase his wealth 22 23 Critics noted that he showed more interest in altering Twitter s moderation policies than in fighting government censorship 24 According to The Washington Post the banning of accounts such as The Babylon Bee had prompted Musk to initiate the acquisition 25 The price of 54 20 per share is believed to be a reference to 420 a slang term in cannabis culture for marijuana consumption 26 On April 15 Twitter s board of directors announced a poison pill strategy which would allow shareholders to purchase additional stock in the event of a hostile takeover the plan expired on April 14 2023 27 On April 17 Taylor was urged by Twitter s largest institutional shareholders to seriously consider the offer 6 On April 20 Musk disclosed that he had secured financing provided by a group of banks led by Morgan Stanley Bank of America Barclays MUFG Societe Generale Mizuho Bank and BNP Paribas for a potential tender offer to acquire the company 28 29 The funding included 7 billion of senior secured bank loans 6 billion in subordinated debt 6 25 billion in bank loans to Musk personally secured by 62 5 billion of his Tesla stock 20 billion in cash equity from Musk to be provided by sales of Tesla stock and other assets and 7 1 billion in equity from 19 independent investors 30 31 32 The initially proposed 13 billion in money borrowed by Twitter was equivalent to seven times the company s 2022 projected operating cash flow some banks found that multiple too risky and opted to participate only in the 12 5 billion margin loan to Musk 33 The debt was estimated to cost Twitter approximately 1 billion in annual interest and fees 28 Two days after announcing his bid Musk registered three holding companies under the name X Holdings in preparation for his takeover 34 Tesla shares fell 12 percent on the day after the acquisition was announced amid smaller declines in the broader markets Musk incurred a 21 billion paper loss that day 35 Acquisition announcement edit On April 23 Musk informed Taylor that his offer was best and final urging him to accept in a letter sent the following day 6 Multiple outlets subsequently reported that Twitter was in final negotiations to accept Musk s offer with a deal expected to be reached by the next day 36 37 38 though Reuters cautioned that the deal could still fall apart 39 On April 25 Twitter shares rose by 5 percent following reports that Twitter was poised to accept Musk s offer 40 Twitter advisors Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase approved of the deal deeming it fair from a financial perspective 6 Twitter s board publicly and unanimously accepted the buyout offer for 44 billion and Twitter was to become a private company once the transaction was completed sometime in 2022 41 42 Negotiations with Musk were led by the board s transaction committee composed of Taylor Martha Lane Fox and Patrick Pichette 43 The deal would require shareholder and regulatory approval before it could be finalized 44 though analysts believed it was unlikely to be challenged by regulators 45 Musk was barred from disparaging the company or its employees when tweeting about the acquisition before the transaction closed 46 The agreement also stipulated that if Musk failed to close the acquisition he would be required to pay Twitter a 1 billion breakup fee 47 48 Agrawal was set to receive 39 million from the buyout while Dorsey would receive 978 million 49 Musk had privately selected a new CEO to replace Agrawal upon completion of the acquisition 33 though he was expected to serve as interim CEO in the months after its completion 50 Tesla s stock sank by more than 125 billion the next market day causing Musk to lose about 30 billion of his net worth 51 52 Within three days after Twitter agreed to be acquired Musk had sold 8 5 billion of his Tesla shares 53 After the acceptance was announced Musk said that his first goal would be to make the algorithm that ranks tweets in the content feed open sourced in an effort to increase transparency He has also stated that he intended to remove spambots and authenticate all real humans 54 suggesting that he might convert Twitter s San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter 55 56 Musk said he lacked confidence in Twitter s corporate management 57 telling banks that he had considered reducing executive and board pay 33 He published tweets critical of decisions made by Twitter executives such as Vijaya Gadde 58 who was subsequently harassed by Twitter users using racist and sexist language 59 60 On April 28 Twitter told advertising agencies that their work would not be seen next to offensive material 61 Musk also discussed with bankers with the ideas of cutting jobs and costs encouraging influencers to be creative and adding subscription services to Twitter 62 63 On May 4 the Digital Culture Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom summoned Musk to discuss the effect of his buyout on free speech and online harms 64 Musk secured another 7 1 billion in funding the next day including from Oracle Corporation co founder Larry Ellison Saudi prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital as well as sovereign wealth fund Qatar Holding 65 66 The equity infusion reduced his original 12 5 billion personal bank loan to 6 25 billion and his required cash equity contribution from 21 billion to just under 20 billion 32 67 On May 11 The Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC and Federal Trade Commission FTC had launched investigations into events leading to the acquisition 68 The next day Agrawal fired Twitter general manager Kayvon Beykpour and revenue product lead Bruce Falck 69 Attempted termination editAlleged hold edit On May 13 Musk revealed that he had placed the deal on hold in the wake of reports that 5 percent of Twitter s daily active users were spam accounts 70 causing Twitter shares to drop more than 10 percent 71 Musk clarified that he remained committed to the acquisition 72 and Agrawal stated he expected the deal to close 73 In response to a May 16 Twitter thread in which Agrawal said an external review into the platform s users was impractical Musk tweeted out a poop emoji 74 The following day Musk reiterated that the acquisition could not move forward until Twitter could prove the aforementioned reports false 75 76 urging the SEC to investigate Twitter s daily user numbers 77 The same day Twitter filed new documents with the SEC including a detailed timeline of Musk s purchase 6 and affirmed they would enforce the merger agreement regardless of Musk s actions 78 On May 25 Musk abandoned plans to partially fund the deal through margin loans against Tesla stock instead opting to pledge an additional 6 25 billion in equity financing 79 80 Dorsey departed Twitter s board the same day 81 while Twitter investor William Heresniak filed a class action lawsuit against Musk alleging that he had violated corporate laws in California by manipulating the market 82 The lawsuit further declared that Musk was not permitted by the acquisition contract to place the deal on hold and that Musk s misleading statements had contributed to declining Twitter stock prices 83 84 nbsp Former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko claimed that the company had misled the public on its privacy and security woes On June 3 the acquisition was cleared by U S antitrust review 85 In an email sent by Musk s attorney to Twitter three days later Musk threatened to terminate his agreement with Twitter because the company had refused to give him data pertaining to its users 86 87 Twitter responded that they would continue to cooperate with Musk to ensure that the transaction was closed in accordance with their agreement 88 On June 8 Twitter s board complied with Musk s demands agreeing to provide him with a firehose data stream of tweets 89 90 A week later the SEC asked Agrawal to provide information on how Twitter estimated its number of spam accounts to which the company obliged the SEC concluded its inquiry on July 27 91 92 Musk attended an all hands meeting on June 16 to answer questions from Twitter employees 93 discussing Twitter s content moderation policy freedom of speech potential layoffs remote work and the cosmic nature of Twitter 94 95 96 Musk also expressed his desire for Twitter to reach one billion active users 97 and pledged his commitment to advertising as a source of revenue for Twitter 98 In a complaint filed by Whistleblower Aid with the SEC U S Justice Department and FTC on July 6 former Twitter security officer Peiter Zatko accused several Twitter executives including Agrawal and certain board members of making false or misleading statements about privacy security and content moderation on the platform in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 and SEC disclosure rules These included misrepresentations to Musk made during the course of the acquisition bid with the complaint specifically calling Agrawal s May 16 thread deceptive 99 100 101 In a July 7 conference call Twitter revealed that over one million spam accounts were removed daily and reiterated that it was impossible to externally determine the exact number of these accounts as it would involve private user data 102 That same day The Washington Post reported that the deal was in peril amid a slowdown in discussions on funding 103 Attempted withdrawal by Musk edit On July 8 Musk announced his intention to terminate the proposed acquisition claiming in a regulatory filing that Twitter was in material breach of several parts of the agreement by refusing to comply with Musk s requests for spambot account data and dismissing high ranking employees 104 105 In response Taylor pledged to pursue legal action against Musk at the Delaware Court of Chancery with the goal of completing the acquisition 106 107 with the ensuing lawsuit once again overseen by the Twitter board s transaction committee 43 Twitter s stock sank by 7 percent after the news dropping by a further 11 percent the next day 108 On July 10 Twitter hired the law firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen amp Katz to represent its case including key lawyers William Savitt and Leo Strine 109 along with Potter Anderson amp Corroon Ballard Spahr Kobre amp Kim and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich amp Rosati 110 Musk again employed the services of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart amp Sullivan after previously doing so for Unsworth v Musk and SEC v Musk 109 including his personal lawyer Alex Spiro as well as Skadden Arps Slate Meagher amp Flom 111 Twitter formally launched its lawsuit against Musk at the Delaware Court of Chancery on July 12 111 with Musk tweeting in response Oh the irony lol 112 Twitter requested that the trial be held from September 19 through September 22 113 before the deal s originally scheduled drop dead date on October 24 114 Musk s legal team objected to this asking for the trial to be held from February 13 through February 22 2023 115 On July 19 judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled that the trial would last for five days in October 116 117 with Twitter seeking an October 10 start date 118 During its quarterly earnings investor call on July 22 Twitter cited the chaos caused by the proposal as the primary factor for its decline in revenue 119 In a letter to McCormick on July 26 Musk s lawyers complained that Twitter had hindered them from commencing the discovery process and requested an October 17 start date 118 which McCormick granted three days later with a duration of five days 120 In a tweet on August 6 Musk challenged Agrawal to a public debate on Twitter s spambot accounts before polling his followers on whether they believed that less than 5 percent of Twitter accounts were fake spam 121 On August 10 Musk sold 7 92 million Tesla shares worth a total of 6 9 billion as backup should he lose the lawsuit despite previously stating he would no longer sell Tesla stock 122 The next week McCormick ordered Twitter to produce documents from Beykpour which Musk s team had requested along with files from 22 other Twitter employees and 41 custodians 123 Shortly thereafter Musk subpoenaed Dorsey 124 Other businessmen and investors subpoenaed include Marc Andreessen Ellison David Sacks and Joe Lonsdale while Twitter and Musk also subpoenaed Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley JPMorgan Chase Andreessen Horowitz Sequoia Capital Salesforce Mastercard and more Sacks and Lonsdale were both irritated that they were being subpoenaed with the former filing a failed motion to dismiss the subpoena In total lawyers for Twitter issued over 84 subpoenas while Musk s lawyers issued more than 36 110 Facing increasing pressure from Musk Twitter announced that it would combine its health team tasked with preventing non consensual nudity and child sexual exploitation on the platform with its anti spam team 125 McCormick rejected much of Musk s team s absurdly broad request for data pertaining to all of Twitter s users but ordered the company to produce data from 9 000 accounts it previously audit sampled 126 Musk filed a termination letter with the SEC on August 29 citing Zatko s claims as evidence Twitter breached their contract 127 128 before asking McCormick to delay the trial by a few weeks 129 McCormick rejected the request 130 and Musk s team sent a third termination letter to Twitter 131 On September 13 Zatko testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee 132 133 134 while Twitter shareholders voted in favor of the acquisition 135 136 Musk privately offered to purchase Twitter at the reduced prices of 31 billion and 39 6 billion both of which the company rejected 137 138 Revival and closure editRevitalization of bid edit On October 3 Musk s legal team informed Twitter that Musk had changed his mind and decided to move forward with his proposed acquisition at the originally agreed upon price of 54 20 per share on the condition that Twitter drop its lawsuit 139 The reason for this reversal was attributed to concerns from Musk s team that they would not be able to prove that there was a material adverse effect justifying a break from contract Musk and Agrawal s depositions were originally scheduled for October 6 and 10 respectively 140 Musk stated that his purchase of Twitter was part of his ambition to create an everything app called X which would offer many different services 141 In response McCormick asked both sides to propose to her how they should proceed Twitter shares surged by 23 percent as a result of Musk s announcement 140 Neither Twitter nor Musk responded to McCormick s request prompting her to announce that the trial would go forward as planned 142 On October 6 McCormick agreed to a request by Musk to postpone the trial to October 28 so Musk could finalize his debt financing for the acquisition adding that the trial would be rescheduled to November if the deal did not close by then 143 144 During this time Musk deposited a 1 billion loan from his company SpaceX paying back the loan with interest the following month 145 146 On October 13 court filings revealed that Musk was being investigated by the U S government for his conduct in the proposed buyout 147 148 Musk later stated that he believed Twitter s long term value would exceed the price of 54 20 per share which he considered an overpayment 149 On October 20 The Washington Post reported that Musk intended to terminate 75 percent of Twitter s staff and that Twitter executives were keen on selling the company to Musk so they could mitigate their planned payroll and infrastructure cuts 150 151 In an open letter Twitter employees condemned Musk s intentions and warned of negative consequences on the future of Twitter 152 153 Bloomberg News and the Post further reported that officials in the Biden administration were considering a national security review of Musk s proposed acquisition and other ventures via the Committee on Foreign Investment CFIUS 154 155 with the possibility of U S President Joe Biden blocking the purchase if need be 156 the White House denied the reports 157 158 By October 21 both parties bankers and lawyers were set to complete the paperwork for the acquisition by the end of the month with the deal expected to close by then 159 160 The banks funding the acquisition were to hold the 13 billion worth of debt incurred as opposed to selling it 161 162 In a video call with banks who helped Musk fund the acquisition Musk assured them he would complete the buyout by the deadline 163 Musk made a trip to Twitter s headquarters on October 26 tweeting a video of him carrying a kitchen sink at the site s lobby and changing his Twitter bio to Chief Twit 164 165 166 Musk also told Twitter employees that while layoffs were still likely to happen he did not intend to do so at the scale the Post had previously reported 167 168 The next day Musk wrote in an open letter to advertisers that Twitter would not become a free for all hellscape reiterating that his motives for the purchase were not based on greed but rather a desire to create a common digital town square 169 He then asked Tesla engineers to meet with Twitter s product managers in order to assess the platform s codebase 170 which was frozen until November 1 171 Completion of purchase edit In the afternoon of October 27 Musk and Twitter closed the deal with Musk tweeting the bird is freed Musk immediately became Twitter s new owner promptly firing Agrawal chief financial officer CFO Ned Segal Gadde and general counsel Sean Edgett 172 173 174 with the executives escorted out of the company s headquarters by security 175 This move came to the surprise of many involved who had expected Musk to allow the executives to voluntarily resign Agrawal had prepared a draft of his resignation letter before his access to his Twitter email account was cut off According to Walter Isaacson s biography Elon Musk 2023 Musk meticulously changed his plans so he could terminate their employment before their stock options would vest seeking retribution for Agrawal s handling of the spambot incident 176 Agrawal Segal and Gadde were set to receive golden parachute sums of 38 7 million 25 4 million and 12 5 million respectively 177 178 but The New York Times reported that Musk was unlikely to make the payments because the executives had been dismissed for cause 179 According to the Financial Times Musk s justification for this assertion was that the company had been mismanaged and the executives were weighing their legal options over the decision 180 Dorsey retained his 1 billion ownership stake 181 182 and several other executives departed Twitter in the ensuing days 183 184 185 Musk assumed the position of CEO 186 187 merging the company with X Holdings and dissolving Twitter s board of directors 188 With this merger Twitter ceased to be an independent company with X Corp later created in March 2023 to house the company 189 190 Musk uses the title Chief Twit to refer to his position as CEO 191 A war room was established at Twitter with Musk meeting with Spiro Sacks and others to discuss his next steps 192 According to The New York Times the group s two primary objectives were to reduce the size of Twitter s workforce and overhaul the platform s mobile app 193 Twitter employees were not formally informed of the change in management 194 with Musk originally said to be planning a town hall meeting with employees but ultimately not doing so 172 195 The next day Twitter shares ceased trading in accordance with Musk s pledge to take the company private 196 197 198 the company s stock ticker was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange NYSE on November 8 199 Post acquisition edit Main article Twitter under Elon Musk nbsp Musk appointed Linda Yaccarino CEO of X Corp the successor to Twitter Since becoming owner Musk has enacted a series of reforms including overhauling Twitter s verification system by requiring new applicants to purchase a Twitter Blue subscription 200 Many Twitter staff members were directed to extend their working hours in order to meet Musk s deadlines for his desired changes to the platform 201 On November 4 Musk laid off roughly half of Twitter s workforce 202 203 and two weeks later he issued an ultimatum to employees to commit to extremely hardcore work in order to realize Musk s vision of Twitter 2 0 or leave 204 205 Hundreds of employees resigned in response 206 207 Meanwhile Musk began restoring previously banned accounts such as Jordan Peterson Kathy Griffin The Babylon Bee and Trump 208 209 while suspending anti fascist accounts at the urging of far right figures 210 as well as accounts that parodied Musk 211 212 Musk also relaxed the platform s hate speech policies and removed its policy prohibiting COVID 19 misinformation 213 214 resulting in an increase in hate speech 215 In December Musk faced backlash after banning ElonJet a Twitter bot account operated by Jack Sweeney which tracked Musk s private jet in real time using publicly accessible data 216 217 These protests intensified when Musk suspended multiple journalists who had been covering the ElonJet incident 218 219 220 Days later Musk conducted a Twitter poll asking users whether he should step down as CEO of Twitter 221 222 to which voters responded in the affirmative 223 224 Musk stated he would step down after selecting his replacement 225 and he was succeeded by NBCUniversal advertising sales chair Linda Yaccarino in June 2023 226 Musk s acquisition of Twitter was principally responsible for the development of Threads a social media platform which closely resembles Twitter by rival company Meta Platforms Work began on the service in November 2022 and it was released on July 5 2023 amidst continued backlash to changes to Twitter enacted by Musk and Yaccarino 227 228 In response Twitter threatened to sue Meta over intellectual property infringement 229 Agrawal Segal and Gadde filed a lawsuit against Twitter in April 2023 claiming that the company had failed to pay them for the legal fees they had incurred during their tenure 230 McCormick ruled in the executives favor in October 231 In June X Corp sued Wachtell to recoup a portion of the 90 million fee the law firm had paid accusing the firm of unjust enrichment for charging a bonus fee on successful completion of the acquisition when the agreement with prior Twitter management stipulated billing only on an hourly basis 232 233 The Twitter app was rebranded as X in July an unprecedented decision which has created confusion among users 234 In September Musk failed to appear before the SEC in response to the agency s investigation into his purchasing of Twitter stock the year prior prompting a lawsuit 235 The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2023 that the seven major banks that had provided Musk s acquisition loans failed to follow the standard practice of quickly selling down their exposure to other banks due to a lack of appetite for the debt since Musk took over instead expected to mark down the debt by at least 15 percent in order to sell it 236 Reactions editTakeover bid edit Following Musk s induction to Twitter s board of directors on April 5 Agrawal wrote that he believed Musk s appointment would bring long term value to the company while Dorsey wrote that Musk cares deeply about our world and Twitter s role in it 12 Dorsey privately relayed his appreciation to Musk for his commitment texting that he trusted Musk 7 On April 11 Agrawal stated that he believed Musk s withdrawal from the board was for the best noting that the company would remain open to his input 14 Musk s offer to take over Twitter was met with both praise and criticism 237 On April 14 Twitter employees expressed concern with Musk s views on free speech 238 239 Media outlets expressed concerns that his proposed changes to Twitter would result in an increase in disinformation and online harassment 237 240 Jim Cramer of CNBC opined that the Twitter board would have no choice but to reject Musk s offer due to potential personal liability faced by the board members 241 On April 19 the National Urban League urged Twitter to turn down Musk s takeover bid warning of potentially negative consequences on users civil rights 242 Conservative and Republican commentators and politicians in the U S who believed Twitter discriminated against right wing speech expressed enthusiasm for Musk s proposed changes 237 243 On April 22 U S House Republicans demanded that Twitter s board preserve all records pertaining to Musk s takeover proposal which sets the stage for a potential congressional probe following the 2022 midterms 244 Jimmy Patronis the Chief Financial Officer of Florida praised Musk s offer and was critical of Twitter s poison pill strategy 245 According to a poll conducted by Harvard University s Center for American Political Studies CAPS and the Harris Poll 57 percent of American voters approved of Musk s purchase of Twitter 246 Acquisition announcement edit Agrawal applauded the purchase and assured employees that no layoffs were planned at that time 247 248 adding he was proud of Twitter employees despite the noise around the company 58 He also led an all hands meeting on April 29 to address concerns raised by employees 249 Dorsey endorsed the sale saying that taking Twitter back from Wall Street is the correct first step and that he trusted Musk to be the owner of the company 250 Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo denounced Musk s criticism of the company 58 Gadde allegedly cried during a meeting about the announcement and was subjected to online trolling 251 Musk s June 17 meeting with employees was generally negatively received by participants who found Musk s statements incoherent and uninspiring 252 Musk was repeatedly derided and mocked by Twitter employees on their internal Slack channels after the deal was brokered 140 Republican lawmakers in the U S Congress such as Jim Jordan Yvette Herrell Marsha Blackburn and Ted Cruz praised the deal calling it a restoration of free speech Meanwhile Democratic lawmakers such as Pramila Jayapal Jesus Garcia Marie Newman Mark Pocan and Elizabeth Warren criticized Musk and the buyout 253 254 In June Texas attorney general Ken Paxton launched an investigation into whether Twitter had misled authorities on its number of spambot accounts alluding to prior claims made by Musk 255 Former U S President Donald Trump expressed approval with the deal but stated that he would not rejoin the platform even if he is unbanned due to his preference for his own social media platform Truth Social 256 Musk later indicated his intention to reverse Twitter s ban on Trump 257 Mexican President Lopez Obrador stated that he hoped Musk would rid Twitter of the corruption that s there manipulation with bots 258 Federal Communications Commission FCC commissioner Brendan Carr responded to calls for the agency to block the purchase by saying that it has no authority to do so calling such requests absurd 259 Thierry Breton the European Commissioner for Internal Market emphasized that any company operating in Europe needs to comply with their rules while the European Union EU announced that new online rules would overhaul the digital market and Tech Giants 260 By April 27 30 000 new users had joined the decentralized network of servers running open source Mastodon software 261 Conservative Twitter accounts experienced a significant increase in followers while liberal ones experienced a slight decrease 262 additionally thousands of left leaning users deactivated their accounts following the buyout 263 LGBTQ users and activists expressed apprehension about the deal based on tweets by Musk mocking transgender people fearing that the re platforming of suspended Twitter accounts would lead to a rise in online harassment and hate speech 264 265 On June 3 a group of political advocacy groups which included the Center for Countering Digital Hate GLAAD and MediaJustice initiated a campaign to block the proposal by calling for a review of the deal by the government and a boycott of the platform by advertisers 266 Henrik Fisker co founder of electric vehicle maker Fisker Inc and a rival of Musk s left Twitter shortly after the acquisition announcement 267 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos questioned whether Tesla s business interest in China would give the Chinese government leverage over Twitter via Musk before answering that it would probably not 268 269 Microsoft co founder Bill Gates questioned if Musk would allow the spread of public health misinformation including vaccine misinformation 270 Wikipedia co founder Jimmy Wales speculated that Twitter could either thrive or fall within five years under Musk s supervision 271 Bitcoin investor Roger Ver and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong welcomed the buyout citing the potential for reduction of perceived censorship on Twitter 272 Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said that he hoped Twitter would improve over time due to its importance to society 273 while Facebook and Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed confusion and uncertainty over the proposed buyout 274 Attempted termination edit Edgett instructed employees not to share commentary on the purported cancellation nonetheless several Twitter employees posted humorous messages making light of the situation 275 Tesla shares rose 2 11 percent in the hours after Musk s announcement 276 Trump criticized Musk and called the acquisition rotten 277 which led to a protracted feud between the two 278 279 With the exception of Trump most conservatives sided with Musk with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon attacking Twitter for allegedly lying about the prevalence of its spambot accounts and Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk musing that Musk may have been seeking to expose Twitter the whole time 280 In an email sent to Twitter s employees in response to Zatko s complaint Agrawal sharply rejected the claims and called them a false narrative 281 Completion of purchase edit Trump responded approvingly of the purchase after the deal was closed saying that he was pleased Twitter was in sane hands rather than what he termed radical left lunatics 282 283 Other Republican politicians including Dan Crenshaw Darrell Issa 284 Marjorie Taylor Greene 285 Marsha Blackburn 192 Anthony Sabatini Amy Kremer 286 Lauren Boebert Dick Black 287 Cruz 288 and Jordan applauded the purchase as well Democrat Amy Klobuchar voiced her distrust of Musk and called for tighter government regulation of the platform 289 while Democrat Chris Murphy advocated for a federal investigation into the role of Saudi Arabia in the purchase 290 Dmitry Medvedev deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia and former President of Russia was pleased with the news stating that he hoped Twitter would eliminate political bias and ideological dictatorship Breton again emphasized that Twitter was bound by the EU s laws 291 alluding to the recently passed Digital Services Act 292 Internally Twitter employees expressed concern that Musk would lay off employees before they receive their compensation payments 178 among other messages criticizing Musk and voicing solidarity with each other 287 Amid conflicting reports on whether Musk was planning sweeping layoffs many employees expressed uncertainty and fear on Slack Discord and LinkedIn 293 294 Women s rights activist Seyi Akiwowo tweeted her disappointment with Gadde s dismissal while children s rights activist Beeban Kidron said that Musk s newfound power would not result in more free speech 292 Podcaster Joe Rogan praised Musk for his aspirations 289 while right wing Twitter account Libs of TikTok rejoiced over the news of the purchase 288 Media personality Stew Peters who had been blocked from Twitter for months attempted to circumvent the block after the purchase using a new account which was later suspended 287 Margarita Simonyan editor in chief of the Russian state controlled RT broadcasting service demanded that Musk lift her Twitter suspension 195 Bin Talal Al Saud congratulated Musk on the purchase 287 and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon urged Musk to eradicate spambot accounts 295 Tesla rival General Motors announced it would temporarily stop paid advertising on Twitter 291 Advertising agencies IPG Mediabrands and Omnicom Media Group recommended their clients temporarily pause advertising on Twitter due to safety and trust concerns over Musk s ownership 296 297 A slew of companies proceeded to do so including Audi Bentley the Carlsberg Group General Mills Lamborghini Mondelez International Porsche Pfizer REI and the Volkswagen Group 298 299 Media buying agency GroupM also advised its clients against procuring advertisements from Twitter 300 Alt tech social media platform Parler welcomed Musk s purchase while alt tech platform Gettr was more skeptical believing Twitter was fundamentally broken 301 Similarities have been drawn between the acquisition and the 2022 film Glass Onion A Knives Out Mystery with some viewers comparing Musk to the character of Miles Bron though director Rian Johnson stated that the similarities were purely coincidental 302 303 Online reception to Musk s completion of the purchase was mixed 304 According to Memetica a digital investigations company several far right figures experienced a significant increase in followers after the deal was finalized while many progressives experienced a significant decrease although it is unclear if Musk s takeover drove the changes in followers 305 Mastodon once again experienced a surge in sign ups 306 Multiple celebrities in the entertainment industry announced their departure from the platform 307 308 while some left wing influencers such as John Pavlovitz and Rob Reiner urged fellow leftists to remain on Twitter for the time being 307 305 The Network Contagion Research Institute NCRI observed a 500 percent spike in the use of the racial slur nigger in the 12 hours after Musk completed the acquisition while The Washington Post noted an increase in pro Nazi misogynistic and anti LGBTQ tweets 195 Basketball player LeBron James expressed concern over the NCRI s report condemning unfit people saying hate speech is free speech 309 Twitter responded by saying that the accounts using racial slurs were part of a trolling campaign and would be banned summarily 310 311 The Center for Countering Digital Hate reported that anti Black anti gay and anti transgender slurs had increased since Musk took control of Twitter while the Anti Defamation League reported an increase in antisemitic content 312 Critical analysis editTakeover bid and acquisition announcement edit Anticipating a takeover Elizabeth Lopatto of The Verge predicted that it would lead to a mass employee exodus and a possible reinstatement of Trump s Twitter account 313 After the acquisition announcement Alex Werpin of The Hollywood Reporter warned of widespread repercussions 314 Greg Bensinger of The New York Times argued that Musk s acquisition was about controlling a megaphone rather than free speech 315 while Elizabeth Dwoskin of The Washington Post remarked that Musk s free speech vision for Twitter was considered by technologists to be outdated and impractical 316 Don Pittis of CBC News noted the controversy associated with the wealthy gaining control of media platforms 317 Brendan O Neill of Spiked observed that Musk s purchase of Twitter and the resulting backlash represented a battle for control of the Internet 318 with Business Insider s Ben Gilbert calling the purchase the latest battleground in the culture war between Democrats and Republicans 319 Michael Hiltzik of The Seattle Times commented that Musk s impact on Twitter would depend on his policies and how he chooses to implement them 320 David Auerbach of UnHerd saw the purchase as indicative of a major flashpoint in the transition of society to a more decentralized chaotic and devolved world 321 Paul R La Monica of CNN Business suggested that Tesla s declining stock price indicated that Wall Street investors were doubtful on whether Musk s purchase would go through 322 CleanTechnica s Matt Pressman believed that Musk s purchase would benefit Tesla because owners of the company s cars often engaged on the platform 323 and Lindsey Bakes of Deseret News wrote that Musk could integrate cryptocurrency within Twitter 324 Kevin D Williamson of American conservative magazine National Review likened Musk s purchase of Twitter to the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign labeling it a publicity stunt 325 his colleague Rich Lowry said that liberal politicians strong reaction to Musk s purchase was an indication that Twitter s existing policies had political consequences 326 and the editors of the publication wished Musk well in his quest to promote free speech on Twitter 327 Bonnie Kristian of evangelical magazine Christianity Today felt that the purchase would only add to the confusion surrounding the contentious debate on free speech 328 while Paris Marx of American socialist magazine Jacobin dismissed Musk s proclamations that he sought to protect free speech as an example of his hubris 329 Corbin K Barthold of conservative public policy magazine City Journal believed it would be difficult but worth the struggle to end censorship on Twitter 330 while Peter van Buren of The Spectator World opined that Musk should simply take Twitter offline 331 Cathy Young of center right news website The Bulwark felt that Musk s planned reforms to Twitter were unlikely to succeed further observing that commentators who opposed the purchase viewed it as right wing backlash against perceived left wing social media bias 332 Robby Soave of American libertarian magazine Reason postulated that Musk s purchase would not threaten Twitter or democracy suggesting that those overstating the importance of the platform were Musk s critics in progressive and mainstream media 333 with James McElroy of The American Conservative further arguing that many journalists condemnation of the acquisition was motivated by professional anxiety 334 J Robert McClure III of American conservative magazine Washington Examiner and Ben Shapiro of American conservative news website The Daily Signal declared that the negative reaction to Musk s purchase was rooted in an opposition to the idea of free speech 335 336 Equity analyst Angelo Zino believed that Twitter s acceptance of Musk s proposal may have stemmed from its realization that alternative bidders would be unlikely to emerge due to social media companies declining asset prices 57 Associate professor Brian Quinn of Boston College Law School noted that it would be difficult for Musk to arbitrarily pull out of the deal due to the contractual doctrines of fair dealing and good faith 337 Kate Klonick a law professor at St John s University argued that to allow all free speech to exist on Twitter would open the door to the spread of pornography and hate speech 338 Similarly Joan Donovan research director at Harvard s Shorenstein Center on Media Politics and Public Policy stated that the lack of moderation on Twitter would lead to online harassment 339 Bill George a senior fellow at Harvard Business School and former CEO of Medtronic argued that Musk s purchase of Twitter would harm both society and Musk himself 340 while analyst Mike Proulx of Forrester Research cautioned that other companies may leave Twitter if Musk loosens its moderation policies 341 Proprietary trader Dennis Dick opined that Musk s spambot claims were tactics by him to lower the price of the purchase 342 Analysts noted that the involvement of foreign entities as independent investors could cause the transaction to face national security scrutiny by the CFIUS 343 344 Left leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America and think tank Australian Strategic Policy Institute suggested that China could use its influence to extract political concessions or manipulate Twitter due to Musk s ties to the country 345 346 American Civil Liberties Union ACLU executive director Anthony D Romero warned of the potential danger of Musk wielding excessive power 347 Attempted termination edit Following Musk s announcement that he intended to terminate the agreement legal experts generally agreed it would be difficult for him to do so 348 Law professor James Park of the University of California Los Angeles found Musk s spambot argument weak and doubted it was material while Case Western Reserve University business law professor Anat Alon Beck observed that Twitter was compelled to enforce the merger so as to disprove Musk s allegations Professor Jennifer Grygiel of Syracuse University mused that Musk may reverse course and revisit the deal 349 Tulane University Law School associate dean for faculty research Ann Lipton and mergers and acquisitions expert Julian Klymochko both expressed doubts that Musk could prove there was a material adverse effect 350 351 Felix Salmon of Axios noted that a clause in the contract opened the door for a judge to grant specific performance and order Musk to move forward with the deal 352 CNBC s Jonathan Vanian described Musk s withdrawal as the product of months of buyer s remorse 353 while his colleague Alex Sherman observed that paying the stipulated breakup fee would not relieve Musk of compensations or sanctions 354 Writing for The Wall Street Journal Holman W Jenkins Jr questioned whether Musk had proposed the acquisition out of mouth momentum or excessive enjoyment of the limelight or for some mysterious reason that causes an onlooker to throw up his hands 355 Various news publications believed that Zatko s complaint provided potential evidence in Musk s favor 356 357 358 though Bloomberg News columnist Matt Levine argued that the complaint confirmed Twitter s monetizable daily active users counts do not include spambots 359 Revitalization of bid edit Greg Varallo of the Bernstein Litowitz Berger amp Grossmann law firm observed that if Musk fails to secure funding and close the acquisition he could be barred from claiming that he can terminate the acquisition as per the legal doctrine of judicial estoppel 360 New York University s Center for Social Media and Politics executive director Zeve Sanderson cautioned that if Musk does lay off 75 percent of Twitter s workforce it would make it more difficult for the company to moderate its content Professor David Kaye of the University of California Irvine School of Law and Professor Eric Goldman of the Santa Clara University School of Law concurred warning of a potential increase in misinformation and harassment on the platform However they noted that the layoffs could still be mitigated through an increase in automated content moderation 361 Completion of purchase edit Conservative commentators celebrated the purchase s closure 285 288 362 Fox News host Tucker Carlson argued that Musk s laissez faire approach to moderation on Twitter would reshape American political discourse 362 Shapiro wrote that he hoped other social media platforms would implement Musk s proposals and called on Musk to reverse Peterson s suspension from Twitter 285 288 362 Political commentator Matt Walsh saw the purchase as an opportunity to rally opposition against the trans agenda 195 362 Political columnist Benny Johnson called on Musk to reverse the suspensions of several prominent conservatives 285 Spiked s O Neill claimed that liberals negative reaction to the closure reflected their fear of freedom and liberty 363 while Washington Examiner s Christopher Tremoglie disapproved of Musk s idea for a moderation council as continued censorship 364 Lauren Hirsch of The New York Times observed that Musk would face financial challenges in owning Twitter including the company s difficulty in turning a profit 365 Richard Waters of the Financial Times echoed Hirsch s sentiments adding that it would difficult for Musk to allow the right amount of free speech on the platform 366 Kate Ferguson of Deutsche Welle viewed Musk as unreliable and therefore unfit to operate Twitter 367 and Hamilton Nolan of The Guardian felt the purchase was an attempt by Musk to control the conversation 368 Barbara Ortutay Tom Krisher and Matt O Brien of the Associated Press noted Musk s contradictory and vague messages in the past regarding his vision for Twitter 369 while Ben Burgis of Jacobin criticized liberals technocratic views and their downplaying of the importance of free speech in response to the purchase though he remarked that Musk had a history of suppressing his critics 370 Also writing for The New York Times Kate Conger Ryan Mac and Tiffany Hsu noted that Musk s meetings with civil rights activists and his plans for a content moderation council were reminiscent of the actions taken by Zuckerberg following backlash on Facebook s handling of the 2016 U S elections 371 Politico s Jack Shafer noted that media coverage of Musk s purchase foretold chaos greater political oversight and outright failure 372 Edward Niedermeyer an author and critic of Musk argued that Twitter may fail due to Musk s hubris 372 Scholars who studied the First Amendment such as professor Jonathan Turley of the George Washington University Law School praised Musk s plans to tone down content moderation on Twitter 295 New York University s Center for Business and Human Rights deputy director Paul M Barrett speculated that a moderation council under Musk would face skepticism due to Musk s erratic and imperious behavior in the past 195 Alex Stamos of Stanford University s Center for International Security and Cooperation questioned how Musk would respond to foreign governments attempting to influence Twitter s userbase 195 Those in the cryptocurrency field such as podcaster Bryce Paul and investor Cathie Wood expressed excitement at the prospects of Musk s ownership 295 Media Matters for America president Angela Carusone warned that Musk s leadership would lead to an increase in disinformation conspiracy theories and harassment on Twitter 373 Literary group PEN America opined that the midterm elections in November would serve as a test as to whether Musk would allow disinformation to spread rapidly on the platform 374 while American left wing activist coalition Stop the Deal warned of real world consequences if a rise in hate speech occurs on Twitter 291 195 Over 40 civil rights groups signed an open letter to 20 Twitter advertisers urging them to abandon the platform if Musk lifts its content moderation measures 183 Anti Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said he was cautiously optimistic about the purchase but expressed concerns over a potential rise in hate speech 373 Fight for the Future director Evan Greer appreciated Musk s idea for a moderation council but noted that Musk had supreme authority on any decisions made 192 Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat believed that Musk s attempts to promote free speech would backfire under increased government regulation 284 LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign voiced concern at Twitter s new ownership and argued that Twitter has the responsibility to stop its platform from turning into a dangerous media environment 195 Legacy editOn the first anniversary of the acquisition Musk valued the company at 19 billion a 55 percent decrease from the buyout s 44 billion purchase price 375 376 Fidelity which contributed 300 million to the acquisition depressed the value by 65 percent 377 Statistics indicated a 30 percent decline in active users 60 percent decline in advertising 378 14 percent decline in website traffic 379 and 38 percent decline in app downloads 380 The company has refuted these metrics reporting an increase in engagement 379 A nonfiction book about the acquisition Breaking Twitter Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History was announced by author Ben Mezrich in December 2022 and released in November 2023 381 382 Many publications reflected on Twitter s first year under Musk s ownership Journalists for The Washington Post citing data from the University of Washington wrote that the platform had become a cacophony of misinformation and confusing reports remarking on Twitter s stark shift toward conservatism 383 Pranav Dixit of The Guardian lambasted the changes and reforms Musk had instituted in the past year 384 while Miles Klee of Rolling Stone criticized Musk s alleged pandering to right wing extremists and peddlers of misinformation 385 The Verge s Jay Peters pointed to Musk s radical changes and declining user numbers as evidence that the takeover was a disaster 386 while Bloomberg s Aisha Counts zeroed in on the increase in misinformation and hate speech 387 Kate Conger of The New York Times and Alex Kirshner of Slate lamented that Musk s acquisition had fundamentally changed the meaning of Twitter 388 389 Annika Burgess of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation declared Twitter as the world knew it is dead 390 Musk has largely dismissed this negative commentary 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sc13da htm sec gov Archives edgar Tweet Archived from the original on April 14 2022 Retrieved May 2 2022 via Twitter Turner Giles Adler Maxwell April 14 2022 Elon Musk Makes 43 Billion Unsolicited Bid to Take Twitter Private Bloomberg News Archived from the original on April 14 2022 Retrieved April 14 2022 Frater Patrick April 14 2022 Elon Musk Launches 43 Billion Hostile Takeover Bid for Twitter Variety Archived from the original on April 14 2022 Retrieved April 14 2022 Gilbert Ben April 23 2022 Elon Musk is attempting a hostile takeover of Twitter Here s how that could work Business Insider Archived from the original on April 23 2022 Retrieved April 24 2022 Subin Samantha April 14 2022 Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for 43 billion so it can be transformed as private company CNBC Archived from the original on April 14 2022 Retrieved April 14 2022 Syme Pete September 1 2023 Elon Musk stayed up playing video games in a Vancouver hotel until 5 30 a m after he offered to buy Twitter because he was in stress mode Business Insider Archived from the original on September 1 2023 Retrieved October 11 2023 Sato Mia April 14 2022 Buying Twitter is not a way to make money says Musk in TED interview The Verge Archived from the original on April 14 2022 Retrieved April 25 2022 Robertson Adi April 15 2022 What Elon Musk s Twitter free speech promises miss The Verge Archived from the original on April 15 2022 Retrieved April 24 2022 Milmo Dan April 14 2022 How free speech absolutist Elon Musk would transform Twitter The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Archived from the original on April 27 2022 Retrieved April 25 2022 Zakrzewski Cat Siddiqui Faiz Menn Joseph November 22 2022 Musk s free speech agenda dismantles safety work at Twitter insiders say The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Archived from the original on November 22 2022 Retrieved January 19 2023 Copeland Rob Elliott Rebecca Lombardo Cara April 14 2022 Elon Musk Makes 43 Billion Bid for Twitter Says Civilization At Stake The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Archived from the original on April 15 2022 Retrieved April 14 2022 Manfredi Lucas April 15 2022 Twitter adopts poison pill to prevent Elon Musk takeover Fox Business Archived from the original on April 15 2022 Retrieved April 24 2022 a b Levine Matt April 21 2022 Elon Got His Money Bloomberg News Archived from the original on April 22 2022 Retrieved April 25 2022 Spangler Todd April 21 2022 Elon Musk Secures 46 5 Billion in Financing for Potential Twitter Takeover Variety Archived from the original on April 21 2022 Retrieved April 24 2022 Isaac Mike Hirsch Lauren April 25 2022 With Deal for Twitter Musk Lands a Prize and Pledges Fewer Limits The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 27 2022 Retrieved April 26 2022 MacMillan Douglas Siddiqui Faiz Lerman Rachel Telford Taylor April 25 2022 Elon Musk acquires Twitter for roughly 44 billion The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Archived from the original on April 25 2022 Retrieved April 26 2022 a b Feuer Will May 5 2022 Elon Musk Gets 7 Billion in Fresh Financing for Twitter Deal The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Archived from the original on May 5 2022 Retrieved May 5 2022 a b c Hu Krystal Sen Anirban April 29 2022 Musk told banks he will rein in Twitter pay make money from tweets Reuters Archived from the original on April 29 2022 Retrieved May 18 2022 Manfredi Lucas April 22 2022 Elon Musk registers three X Holdings companies to support Twitter takeover bid Fox Business Archived from the original on April 22 2022 Retrieved April 24 2022 Salmon Felix April 28 2022 Tesla s stock could fall much further Axios Archived from the original on April 28 2022 Retrieved May 9 2022 Baker Liana Davis Michelle F April 25 2022 Twitter Eyes Deal With Musk as Soon as Monday Bloomberg News Archived from the original on April 25 2022 Retrieved April 25 2022 Hirsch Lauren Isaac Mike Conger Kate April 24 2022 Twitter Nears a Deal to Sell Itself to Elon Musk The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 25 2022 Retrieved April 25 2022 Lombardo Cara Cimilluca Dana April 24 2022 Twitter Elon Musk Deal Could Be Announced Monday The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Archived from the original on April 24 2022 Retrieved April 25 2022 Roumeliotis Greg April 25 2022 Twitter set to accept Musk s 43 billion offer Reuters Archived from the original on April 25 2022 Retrieved April 25 2022 Bursztynsky Jessica April 25 2022 Twitter shares jump 5 on reports it could accept Elon Musk s bid as early as Monday CNBC Archived from the original on April 25 2022 Retrieved April 25 2022 Spangler Todd April 25 2022 Elon Musk Clinches Deal to Buy Twitter for 44 Billion Variety Archived from the original on April 25 2022 Retrieved April 25 2022 Duffy Clare June 21 2022 Twitter board recommends shareholders vote in support of Musk acquisition CTV News Archived from the original on June 21 2022 Retrieved June 22 2022 a b Conger Kate Hirsch Lauren October 4 2022 The Board Chair Squaring Up to Elon Musk in the Feud Over Twitter The New York Times Archived from the original on October 4 2022 Retrieved October 29 2022 Lombardo Cara Bobrowsky Meghan Wells Georgia April 25 2022 Twitter Accepts Elon Musk s Offer to Buy Company in 44 Billion Deal The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Archived from the original on April 25 2022 Retrieved April 25 2022 McCabe David April 25 2022 Regulators are unlikely to block Musk s purchase of Twitter former officials say The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 25 2022 Retrieved April 25 2022 Nover Scott April 27 2022 Elon Musk already broke his agreement with Twitter Quartz Archived from the original on April 27 2022 Retrieved May 24 2022 Balu Nivedita April 26 2022 Twitter Musk deal includes 1 billion termination fee filing Reuters Archived from the original on April 26 2022 Retrieved April 29 2022 Sherman Alex May 13 2022 Elon Musk can t just walk away from his Twitter deal by paying a 1 billion breakup fee CNBC Archived from the original on May 13 2022 Retrieved November 9 2022 Werpin Alex April 25 2022 978M for Jack Dorsey and 39M for Parag Agrawal Twitter Execs Could See Massive Paydays If Elon Musk Takeover Closes The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on April 25 2022 Retrieved April 26 2022 Palmer Annie May 5 2022 Elon Musk expected to serve as temporary Twitter CEO after deal closes CNBC Archived from the original on May 6 2022 Retrieved May 9 2022 Siddiqui Faiz April 26 2022 Tesla s value dropped Tuesday by more than double the cost of Twitter The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Archived from the original on April 27 2022 Retrieved April 26 2022 Gura David April 26 2022 Tesla shares sink wipe out over 125 billion in value as Musk scores Twitter deal NPR Archived from the original on April 27 2022 Retrieved April 26 2022 Isidore Chris April 29 2022 Elon Musk sells 8 5 billion worth of Tesla shares CNN Business Archived from the original on April 29 2022 Sherman Natalie Thomas Daniel April 25 2022 Elon Musk strikes deal to buy Twitter for 44bn BBC News Archived from the original on April 25 2022 Retrieved April 25 2022 Cuthbertson Anthony April 11 2022 Elon Musk says he s serious about converting Twitter HQ into homeless shelter The Independent Archived from the original on April 11 2022 Retrieved May 3 2022 Olinga Luc April 10 2022 Musk Has an Original Idea to Solve The Homeless Crisis in San Francisco TheStreet Archived from the original on April 10 2022 Retrieved April 26 2022 a b Duffy Clare April 25 2022 Elon Musk to buy Twitter in 44 billion deal CNN Business Archived from the original on April 25 2022 Retrieved April 26 2022 a b c Woo Erin Isaac Mike April 27 2022 In tweets Musk takes aim at Twitter executives creating outrage The New York Times Archived from the original on April 28 2022 Retrieved April 27 2022 Minutes later Twitter users began tweeting abusive comments at Ms Gadde and Mr Baker including racist and sexist attacks Zakrzewski Cat Dwoskin Elizabeth Siddiqui Faiz April 27 2022 Elon Musk boosts criticism of Twitter executives prompting online attacks The Washington Post Archived from the original on April 28 2022 Retrieved April 27 2022 Twitter users quickly piled on calling on Musk to fire Gadde or using racist language to describe her Wagner Kurt Adler Maxwell April 27 2022 Twitter Legal Executive Hit With Online Abuse Following Musk Tweet Bloomberg News Archived from the original on April 27 2022 Retrieved April 27 2022 Some used expletives or racist slurs referring to Gadde s Indian heritage including references to curry and India s caste system Vincent James April 28 2022 Twitter reassures advertisers Musk won t make the platform more of a toxic hell hole than it already is The Verge Archived from the original on April 28 2022 Retrieved April 28 2022 Soon Weilun April 29 2022 Elon Musk suggested firing workers and working with influencers to boost Twitter s bottom line reports Business Insider Archived from the original on April 29 2022 Retrieved April 29 2022 Baker Liana Davis Michelle F Wagner Kurt April 8 2022 Musk s Twitter Pitch Featured Job Cuts Other Ways to Make Money Bloomberg News Archived from the original on April 28 2022 Retrieved April 29 2022 Goldbart Max May 4 2022 Elon Musk Summoned By UK Parliamentary Committee To Discuss Twitter Free Speech And Online Harms Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on May 4 2022 Retrieved May 9 2022 Spangler Todd May 5 2022 Elon Musk Lines Up Additional 7 1 Billion for Twitter Takeover Including 1 Billion From Larry Ellison Variety Archived from the original on May 5 2022 Retrieved May 9 2022 Szalai Georg May 5 2022 Elon Musk Secures 7 14B in New Financing for Twitter Deal Holds Talks to Keep Jack Dorsey on Board as Investor The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on May 5 2022 Retrieved May 9 2022 Hirsch Lauren May 5 2022 Elon Musk has brought in new investors to fund his Twitter deal a filing shows The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on May 5 2022 Michaels Dave May 11 2022 Elon Musk s Belated Disclosure of Twitter Stake Triggers Regulators Probes The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Archived from the original on May 12 2022 Retrieved May 13 2022 Spangler Todd May 12 2022 Ahead of Musk Takeover Twitter CEO Fires Senior Execs Kayvon Beykpour and Bruce Falck Variety Archived from the original on May 12 2022 Retrieved May 14 2022 Balu Nivedita Li Kenneth May 13 2022 Musk says 44 bln Twitter deal on hold over fake account data Reuters Archived from the original on May 13 2022 Retrieved May 13 2022 Brandom Russell May 13 2022 Twitter shares plummet as Musk raises new doubts about acquisition The Verge Archived from the original on May 13 2022 Retrieved May 13 2022 Seal Dean Needleman Sarah E Lombardo Cara May 13 2022 Elon Musk Says His 44 Billion Twitter Deal Is On Hold The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Archived from the original on May 13 2022 Retrieved May 13 2022 Huston Caitlin May 13 2022 Twitter CEO Ushers in Budget Cuts Amid Elon Musk Deal Tumult The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on May 14 2022 Retrieved May 14 2022 Manfredi Lucas May 16 2022 Elon Musk sends poop emoji to Twitter CEO in response to thread on spam fake accounts Fox Business Archived from the original on May 16 2022 Retrieved May 20 2022 Musk says he ll scrap Twitter buy unless he gets clarity on fake account volume CBS News May 17 2022 Archived from the original on May 17 2022 Retrieved June 6 2022 Porter Jon May 17 2022 Elon Musk says Twitter deal cannot move forward until it proves bot numbers The Verge Archived from the original on May 17 2022 Retrieved May 20 2022 Kolodny Lora May 17 2022 Elon Musk calls on SEC to evaluate Twitter user numbers CNBC Archived from the original on May 17 2022 Retrieved May 20 2022 Stelter Brian May 17 2022 Twitter board says it will enforce the merger agreement despite Elon Musk s latest move CNN Business Archived from the original on May 19 2022 Retrieved June 9 2022 Smith Connor May 25 2022 Tesla CEO Elon Musk Fine Tunes His Potential Buy of Twitter Barron s Archived from the original on May 25 2022 Retrieved May 25 2022 Brandom Russell May 25 2022 Elon Musk will put up 6 billion to drop Tesla loans from his Twitter deal The Verge Archived from the original on May 25 2022 Retrieved May 25 2022 Isaac Mike Conger Kate May 25 2022 Twitter s Chief Tries Staying the Course as Elon Musk Upends Plans The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on May 25 2022 Retrieved October 29 2022 Kolodny Lora May 26 2022 Twitter shareholders sue Elon Musk and Twitter over chaotic deal CNBC Archived from the original on May 27 2022 Retrieved May 27 2022 Brodkin Jon May 26 2022 Lawsuit Musk manipulated Twitter stock price in attempt to renegotiate sale Ars Technica Archived from the original on May 26 2022 Liang Annabelle May 27 2022 Twitter investor sues Elon Musk and platform over takeover bid BBC News Archived from the original on May 27 2022 Retrieved May 27 2022 Schuetz Molly June 3 2022 Twitter Clears US Antitrust Review on 44 Billion Musk Deal Bloomberg News Archived from the original on June 3 2022 Retrieved June 4 2022 Krisher Tom O Brien Matt June 6 2022 Musk threatens to walk away from Twitter deal Associated Press Archived from the original on June 6 2022 Retrieved June 6 2022 Werpin Alex June 6 2022 Elon Musk Says Twitter Actively Resisting Terms of Merger Agreement Threatens Termination of Deal Over Spambot Dispute The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on June 6 2022 Retrieved June 6 2022 Spangler Todd June 6 2022 Elon Musk Claims Twitter Is in Material Breach of 44 Billion Deal Over Refusal to Provide Info on Fake Accounts Variety Archived from the original on June 6 2022 Retrieved June 6 2022 Gans Jared June 8 2022 Twitter will give Musk user data amid takeover impasse report The Hill Archived from the original on June 8 2022 Retrieved June 8 2022 Primack Dan June 8 2022 Elon Musk will get user data firehose from Twitter Axios Archived from the original on June 8 2022 Retrieved June 10 2022 Beyoud Lydia August 24 2022 Twitter Is Facing Fresh SEC Scrutiny Over Spam Account Calculations Bloomberg News Archived from the original on August 24 2022 Retrieved August 26 2022 Brandom Russell August 24 2022 The SEC asked Twitter to explain its user metrics after Elon Musk complained The Verge Archived from the original on August 24 2022 Retrieved August 26 2022 Hays Kali June 13 2022 Elon Musk to attend all hands meeting at Twitter this week speaking to staff for first time since launching his 44 billion acquisition Business Insider Archived from the original on June 14 2022 Retrieved June 14 2022 Ghaffary Shirin June 16 2022 What you need to know about Elon Musk s big meeting with Twitter employees Recode Archived from the original on June 16 2022 Retrieved July 3 2022 Isaac Mike June 16 2022 Elon Musk tells Twitter s employees he wants the service to contribute to a better long lasting civilization The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on June 16 2022 Retrieved July 3 2022 Duffy Clare O Sullivan Donie June 16 2022 Elon Musk addresses layoffs remote work and free speech during his first meeting with Twitter employees CNN Business Archived from the original on June 16 2022 Retrieved July 3 2022 Wong Queenie Morse Andrew June 16 2022 Elon Musk Reportedly Tells Twitter Employees He Wants 1 Billion Users CNET Archived from the original on June 16 2022 Retrieved July 3 2022 Werpin Alex June 16 2022 Elon Musk Wants Twitter to Be a Little More Like TikTok The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on June 16 2022 Retrieved August 6 2022 Menn Joseph Dwoskin Elizabeth Zakrzewski Cat August 23 2022 Former security chief claims Twitter buried egregious deficiencies The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Archived from the original on August 23 2022 Retrieved August 23 2022 Siddiqui Faiz Dwoskin Elizabeth August 23 2022 New whistleblower allegations could factor into Twitter vs Musk trial The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Archived from the original on August 23 2022 Retrieved August 23 2022 Bursztynsky Jessica May 16 2022 Twitter CEO explains how the company actually fights spambots in rebuttal to Musk CNBC Archived from the original on May 16 2022 Retrieved May 28 2022 Dang Sheila Paul Katie July 7 2022 Twitter says it removes over 1 million spam accounts each day Reuters Archived from the original on July 7 2022 Retrieved July 7 2022 Siddiqui Faiz De Vynck Gerrit July 7 2022 Elon Musk s deal to buy Twitter is in peril The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Archived from the original on July 7 2022 Retrieved July 7 2022 Roumeliotis Greg July 8 2022 Elon Musk terminating Twitter deal Reuters Archived from the original on July 8 2022 Retrieved July 8 2022 Duffy Clare Fung Brian Metz Rachel July 8 2022 Elon Musk tells Twitter he wants out of his deal to buy it CNN Business Archived from the original on July 9 2022 Retrieved July 8 2022 Ortutay Barbara Krisher Tom O Brien Matt July 8 2022 Musk abandons deal to buy Twitter company says it will sue The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Archived from the original on July 9 2022 Retrieved July 8 2022 Spangler Todd July 8 2022 Elon Musk Terminates Deal to Buy Twitter Company Vows to Sue Him Variety Archived from the original on July 9 2022 Retrieved July 9 2022 Goldsmith Jill Hayes Dade July 11 2022 Elon Musk Twitter Deal Is Not Terminated Tech Firm s Lawyer Insists Stock Falls 11 As Tesla CEO s Meme Mockery Continues Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on July 12 2022 Retrieved August 6 2022 a b Lawler Richard July 10 2022 Twitter reportedly hires the firm that invented the poison pill to sue Elon Musk The Verge Archived from the original on July 11 2022 Retrieved July 11 2022 a b Conger Kate October 29 2022 Silicon Valley s Elite Get Dragged Into Musk Twitter Trial The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on August 29 2022 Retrieved October 29 2022 a b Conger Kate Hirsch Lauren July 12 2022 Twitter Sues Musk After He Tries Backing Out of 44 Billion Deal The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on July 12 2022 Retrieved July 12 2022 O Brien Matt July 12 2022 Twitter sues to force Musk to complete his US 44B acquisition CTV News Archived from the original on July 12 2022 Retrieved July 12 2022 Twitter seeks four day trial in mid Sept over 44 bln Musk deal Reuters July 12 2022 Archived from the original on July 13 2022 Retrieved July 30 2022 Keenan Alexis July 19 2022 Twitter granted 5 day trial in October in case against Elon Musk Yahoo Finance Archived from the original on July 19 2022 Retrieved July 30 2022 Feeley Jef July 15 2022 Musk Seeks to Block Warp Speed Twitter Trial Over 44 Billion Deal Bloomberg News Archived from the original on August 10 2022 Retrieved July 30 2022 Goldsmith Jill July 19 2022 Elon Musk Twitter Lawsuit Trial Date Set Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on July 19 2022 Retrieved July 30 2022 Twitter Musk takeover dispute heading for October trial BBC News July 19 2022 Archived from the original on July 19 2022 Retrieved July 19 2022 a b Pierce David July 26 2022 Elon Musk s lawyers say Twitter is making the pretrial process impossible The Verge Archived from the original on July 26 2022 Retrieved July 30 2022 Milmo Dan July 22 2022 Twitter blames revenue slide on Elon Musk takeover uncertainty The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Archived from the original on July 22 2022 Retrieved July 22 2022 Thorbecke Catherine July 29 2022 The trial between Twitter and Elon Musk now has a date CNN Business Archived from the original on July 29 2022 Retrieved July 29 2022 Roth Emma August 6 2022 Elon Musk challenges Twitter CEO to a public debate about bots The Verge Archived from the original on August 6 2022 Retrieved August 6 2022 Sankaran Vishwam August 10 2022 Elon Musk sells more Tesla shares worth 6 9bn over Twitter deal The Independent Archived from the original on August 12 2022 Retrieved August 14 2022 Hays Kali August 15 2022 Elon Musk scores a rare win in Twitter acquisition lawsuit as the company is ordered to hand over documents from fired general manager Business Insider Archived from the original on August 15 2022 Retrieved August 24 2022 Thorbecke Catherine August 22 2022 Elon Musk subpoenas former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey as legal battle heats up CNN Business Archived from the original on August 22 2022 Schiffer Zoe Newton Casey August 30 2022 How Twitter s child porn problem ruined its plans for an OnlyFans competitor The Verge Archived from the original on August 30 2022 Retrieved October 1 2022 Hals Tom August 25 2022 Elon Musk s absurdly broad Twitter data requests mostly rejected by judge Reuters Archived from the original on August 25 2022 Retrieved August 26 2022 Vincent James August 30 2022 Elon Musk says whistleblower s testimony gives him more reasons to dump Twitter deal The Verge Archived from the original on September 2 2022 Retrieved September 3 2022 Spangler Todd August 30 2022 Elon Musk s Lawyers Say Twitter Whistle Blower Allegations Provide Additional Justification for Nixing 44 Billion Deal Variety Archived from the original on September 3 2022 Retrieved September 3 2022 Elon Musk demands Twitter trial delay over whistleblower concerns The Guardian September 6 2022 ISSN 0261 3077 Archived from the original on September 7 2022 Retrieved September 14 2022 Robertson Adi September 7 2022 Judge denies Elon Musk s attempt to delay Twitter trial The Verge Archived from the original on September 7 2022 Retrieved September 14 2022 Mehta Ivan September 12 2022 Elon Musk s third termination notice to Twitter is about Mudge s severance TechCrunch Archived from the original on September 12 2022 Retrieved September 14 2022 Zakrzewski Cat August 24 2022 Twitter whistleblower to testify in Congress about security failures The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Archived from the original on August 24 2022 Retrieved September 3 2022 Bond Shannon Dillion Raquel Maria September 13 2022 Twitter may have hired a Chinese spy and four other takeaways from the Senate hearing NPR Archived from the original on September 15 2022 Dang Sheila Shepardson David September 13 2022 Twitter whistleblower reveals employees concerned China agent could collect user data Reuters Archived from the original on September 15 2022 Chase Randall Ortutay Barbara July 26 2022 Twitter sets September shareholder vote on Elon Musk buyout Associated Press Archived from the original on September 2 2022 Feiner Lauren September 13 2022 Twitter shareholders vote to approve Elon Musk s bid to buy the company CNBC Archived from the original on September 13 2022 Retrieved September 13 2022 Conger Kate Schmidt Michael S October 5 2022 Elon Musk Offered to Buy Twitter at a Lower Price in Recent Talks The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on October 6 2022 Retrieved October 15 2022 Lombardo Cara Corse Alexa October 6 2022 Elon Musk and Twitter at Odds Over Terms of Agreement to Close Deal The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Archived from the original on October 6 2022 Retrieved October 15 2022 Lombardo Cara Cimilluca Dana October 4 2022 Elon Musk Proposes Closing Twitter Deal on Original Terms The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Archived from the original on October 4 2022 Retrieved June 2 2022 a b c Feely Jef Hammond Ed Wagner Kurt October 4 2022 Musk Revives 44 Billion Twitter Bid Aiming to Avoid Trial Bloomberg News Archived from the original on October 11 2022 Retrieved October 4 2022 Sen Anirban Hals Tom October 4 2022 Musk reverses course again he s ready to buy Twitter build X app Reuters Archived from the original on October 4 2022 Retrieved October 28 2022 O Brien Matt October 5 2022 Explainer What s next in Musk s epic battle with Twitter Associated Press Archived from the original on October 5 2022 Retrieved October 5 2022 Spangler Todd October 6 2022 Judge Grants Musk Request to Halt Twitter Trial Until Oct 28 to Allow Parties to Close 44 Billion Deal Variety Archived from the original on October 7 2022 Retrieved October 15 2022 Hals Tom October 6 2022 Twitter lawsuit halted so Elon Musk can close deal by Oct 28 Reuters Archived from the original on October 6 2022 Retrieved October 7 2022 Maidenberg Micah Higgins Tim September 5 2023 Elon Musk Borrowed 1 Billion From SpaceX in Same Month of Twitter Acquisition The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Archived from the original on September 6 2023 Retrieved September 6 2023 Levine Matt September 6 2023 SpaceX Loaned Elon Musk Some Money Bloomberg news Archived from the original on September 6 2023 Retrieved September 6 2023 Hals Tom Dang Sheila October 14 2022 Elon Musk is under federal investigations Twitter says in court filing Reuters Archived from the original on October 13 2022 Retrieved October 14 2022 Tapp Tom October 13 2022 Elon Musk Under Federal Investigation Over Twitter Deal Social Media Giant Says And It Wants Documents Related To Probe Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on October 14 2022 Retrieved October 16 2022 Spangler Todd October 20 2022 Elon Musk Says He s Obviously Overpaying for Twitter in 44 Billion Deal but Sees Huge Upside Long Term Variety Archived from the original on October 20 2022 Retrieved October 21 2022 Dwoskin Elizabeth Siddiqui Faiz De Vynck Gerrit Merrill Jeremy B October 20 2022 Documents detail plans to gut Twitter s workforce The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Archived from the original on October 20 2022 Retrieved October 21 2022 Folmar Chloe October 20 2022 Musk said he plans to cut nearly 75 percent of Twitter s workforce report The Hill Archived from the original on October 21 2022 Retrieved October 21 2022 Perrigo Billy October 24 2022 Exclusive Twitter Employees Protest Elon Musk s Plan to Fire 75 of Workforce Time Archived from the original on October 25 2022 Retrieved October 27 2022 Hurler Kevin October 25 2022 Twitter Employees Call Musk Takeover Reckless in Letter Gizmodo Archived from the original on October 25 2022 Retrieved October 25 2022 Jacobs Jennifer Mohsin Saleha October 20 2022 Twitter Tumbles as US Weighs Security Reviews for Musk Deals Bloomberg News Archived from the original on October 21 2022 Retrieved October 21 2022 Mohsin Saleha Flatley Daniel October 21 2022 All About CFIUS the Watchdog Biden May Use to Review Musk s Ventures The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Archived from the original on October 21 2022 Retrieved October 23 2022 Duffy Kate October 21 2022 The US government is considering a national security review of Elon Musk s 44 billion Twitter acquisition report says If it happens Biden could ultimately kill the deal Business Insider Archived from the original on October 21 2022 Retrieved October 21 2022 Milmo Dan October 21 2022 White House denies talk of national security review of Elon Musk ventures The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Archived from the original on October 21 2022 Retrieved October 23 2022 Novak Matt October 25 2022 White House Insists Elon Musk s Deals Aren t Under National Security Review Gizmodo Archived from the original on October 27 2022 Retrieved October 25 2022 Seligson Paula Roof Katie Hammond Ed October 21 2022 Twitter Musk Talks Warm Up as Buyout Closing Deadline Nears Bloomberg News Archived from the original on October 21 2022 Retrieved October 27 2022 Hern Alex October 27 2022 Elon Musk claims he has acquired Twitter to help humanity The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Archived from the original on October 27 2022 Retrieved October 28 2022 Saeedy Alexander Cooper Laura Dummett Ben October 6 2022 Elon Musk s Revived Twitter Deal Could Saddle Banks With Big Losses The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Archived from the original on October 6 2022 Retrieved October 27 2022 Cooper Laura Saeedy Alexander October 21 2022 Elon Musk s Twitter Takeover Debt to Be Held by Banks Amid Turbulent Markets The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Archived from the original on October 21 2022 Retrieved October 27 2022 Amodeo Jeannine Tan Gillian Seligson Paula Hammond Ed October 25 2022 Musk Tells Bankers He Plans to Close Twitter Deal on Friday Bloomberg News Archived from the original on October 25 2022 Retrieved October 26 2022 Mac Ryan Conger Kate October 26 2022 Elon Musk Visits Twitter as 44 Billion Deal Nears Completion The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on October 26 2022 Retrieved October 30 2022 Massie Graeme October 26 2022 Elon Musk shows up at Twitter HQ carrying kitchen sink as he closes in on 44bn purchase The Independent Archived from the original on October 26 2022 Retrieved October 27 2022 Guynn Jessica October 26 2022 Twitter deal Why Chief Twit Elon Musk brought along a sink on his visit to Twitter headquarters USA Today Archived from the original on October 27 2022 Retrieved October 27 2022 Hammond Ed Ludlow Edward October 26 2022 Musk Tells Twitter Staff He Doesn t Plan to Cut 75 Of Jobs Bloomberg News Archived from the original on October 27 2022 Retrieved October 27 2022 Brodkin Jon October 27 2022 Musk visits Twitter HQ promises staff he won t fire 75 of them Ars Technica Archived from the original on October 27 2022 Retrieved November 4 2022 Spangler Todd October 27 2022 Elon Musk on Eve of Twitter Deal Close Promises Advertisers It Won t Become a Free for All Hellscape Variety Archived from the original on October 27 2022 Retrieved October 27 2022 Wagner Kurt Ludlow Edward October 27 2022 Tesla Engineers Visit Twitter Office to Review Code for Musk Bloomberg News Archived from the original on October 27 2022 Retrieved October 28 2022 Heath Alex October 27 2022 Twitter s employees await their fate under Elon Musk The Verge Archived from the original on October 28 2022 Retrieved October 28 2022 a b Siddiqui Faiz Dwoskin Elizabeth October 27 2022 Top Twitter executives fired as Elon 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them if Elon Musk ousts them Here s the payday for each executive Business Insider Archived from the original on October 28 2022 Retrieved October 28 2022 a b Sorkin Andrew Ross Mattu Ravi Warner Bernhard Kessler Sarah Gandel Stephen de la Merced Michael J Hirsch Lauren Livni Ephrat October 28 2022 Elon Musk Faces Another Big Decision at Twitter The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on October 28 2022 Retrieved October 28 2022 Conger Kate Mac Ryan Frenkel Sheera Isaac Mike October 29 2022 Elon Musk Is Said to Have Ordered Job Cuts Across Twitter The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on October 30 2022 Retrieved January 27 2023 Murphy Hannah McGee Patrick Fontanella Khan James Indap Sujeet October 30 2022 Elon Musk moves quickly to shake up Twitter with plans for job cuts Financial Times ISSN 0307 1766 Archived from the original on October 30 2022 Retrieved January 27 2023 In this instance Musk s argument is that Twitter has been mismanaged and that if it were not for his bid the value of the company s stock would have collapsed one of the people said The executives according to a person familiar with their thinking are weighing their legal options over the decision Denying severance payments related to acquisitions is unusual and the for cause clause typically requires misconduct to have taken place Werpin Alex November 1 2022 Twitter Co Founder Jack Dorsey Retained Stake in Company After Elon Musk Acquisition Filings Show The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on November 1 2022 Retrieved November 3 2022 Hays Kali October 31 2022 Jack Dorsey just saved Elon Musk about 1 billion by rolling over his shares of Twitter into a stake in the new private company Business Insider Archived from the original on October 31 2022 Retrieved November 3 2022 a b Conger Kate Hsu Tiffany Mac Ryan November 1 2022 Elon Musk s Twitter Faces Exodus of Advertisers and Executives The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the 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