Twitter says it's being acquired by Elon Musk for $44 billion Daniel Howley ·Technology Editor Mon, April 25, 2022, 11:53 AM Twitter (TWTR) announced on Monday that it has entered into a deal to be acquired by Tesla CEO Elon Musk for $44 billion. Twitter shareholders will receive $54.20 per share, and when the deal is finalized the social network will become a privately held company. Twitter trading was halted Monday afternoon ahead of the news. The announcement follows a tumultuous few weeks between Musk and Twitter's board during which Musk became the company's largest shareholder, rebuffed the board's efforts to recruit him as a member, and launched a hostile takeover bid of the social media company. Musk now adds Twitter to his impressive portfolio of firms including Tesla (TSLA), SpaceX, The Boring Company, and Neuralink. Musk is a prolific Twitter user, regularly firing off news related to his companies, as well as his own stream of conscious tweets. He also, however, uses the platform as a means to tangle with politicians and critics. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced a deal to purchase Twitter on Monday. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) His Twitter use has also gotten him into legal trouble in the past, most famously when he tweeted his intentions to take Tesla private at $420 a share, which earned him a $20 million fine from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk's animosity toward the SEC, specifically its San Francisco office, was on full display Monday when he claimed, on Twitter, those in the agency are "puppets of Wall St shortseller sharks." Musk, a friend of Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, often attacks Twitter and its content moderation policies. How exactly Musk will change the social platform, though, remains to be seen. Easing the company's content moderation policies could invite a litany of user-generated content that both existing users and, more importantly to the company's bottom line, advertisers find objectionable. Without safeguards that prevent their ads from showing up next to hate speech or disinformation, which are a problem even with content moderation practices in place, advertisers could pull out of Twitter. And since the company relies on ad revenue to generate the vast majority of its cash, that could bring the whole social network down. Of course, there's no guarantee that Musk will make any dramatic changes to the platform. He could simply take over Twitter, tweak a few things, and leave the majority of the social network as is. After all, he still needs to build out Tesla's infrastructure, not to mention the release of its cybertruck. We'll just have to wait to find out more from Musk himself. Via tweet, naturally.
this is the second time musk fucked my investments-- first time, when he claimed he'll take tsla private (i sold on the news), and now my $60 calls on twtr are doa. wtf twtr is worth far more than $55/share. it's in fact a paradox though. pre-musk it was probably only worth $20/share. post-musk, unleashing the potential of the platform and free speech-- it's worth the $100+/share target that i had.
It's not uncommon for entities with significant funds to grab something like this, take a few years and clean things up - then do another IPO and get their own cash out of it. More liberals crying in their tofu tonight. It's going to be interesting to see where Twitter goes from here. Musk certainly has admirable intentions but the practice of achieving a true proper balance may be harder than he thinks. Sometimes the dog likes chasing the car more than actually catching it.
He is going to put men on Mars in our life time. I think he is going to make light work of fixing Twitter.
Twitter Inc. locked down changes to its social networking platform through Friday after accepting a $44 billion bid from billionaire Elon Musk, making it harder for employees to make unauthorized changes, according to people familiar with the matter. For now, Twitter won’t allow product updates unless they’re business-critical, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the situation is private.