Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor posted Friday that the board is “committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to take legal action to enforce the agreement merger. We are confident that we will prevail in the Delaware Court of First Instance.” Twitter could have pushed for a $1 billion US fee that Musk agreed to pay under those circumstances. Instead, it appears ready to fight for the deal, which the company’s board has approved and chief executive Parag Agrawal has insisted he wants to complete. The potential revelation of the deal is just the latest twist in a saga between the world’s richest man and one of the most influential social media platforms. Much of the drama has played out on Twitter, with Musk – who has more than 95 million followers – lamenting that the company has failed to live up to its potential as a platform for free speech. On Friday, Twitter shares fell five percent to US$36.81, well below the US$54.20 that Musk had offered to pay. Tesla shares, meanwhile, rose 2.5 percent to US$752.29. In a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk said Twitter “has not complied with its contractual obligations” regarding the deal, giving Musk enough information to “make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spammy accounts on the platform.” of Twitter”.
Major Shareholder
Musk’s flirtation with buying Twitter appeared to begin in late March. That’s when Twitter said it contacted members of its board — including co-founder Jack Dorsey — and told them it was buying shares in the company and that it was interested in either joining the board, taking Twitter private or starting a competitor. Then on April 4, it revealed in a regulatory filing that it had become the company’s largest shareholder after acquiring a nine percent stake worth about US$3 billion. At first, Twitter offered Musk a seat on its board of directors. But six days later, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted that Musk would not be joining the board after all. His attempt to buy the company came together quickly after that. WATCHES | Musk’s Twitter deal raises concerns:
Elon Musk’s Twitter deal sparks debate over free speech
Calling himself the “absolute of free speech,” Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition deal is reigniting the debate surrounding free speech on social media platforms. Some fear that under Musk’s ownership, Twitter could be leveraged as a platform to spread misinformation and monitor critics. Musk had agreed to buy Twitter for US$54.20 per share, inserting a “420” marijuana reference into his offer price. He sold about $8.5 billion of Tesla stock to help finance the buyout and then stepped up commitments to more than $7 billion from a diverse group of investors, including Silicon Valley heavy hitters such as the Oracle co-founder , Larry Ellison. Inside Twitter, Musk’s offer was met with confusion and falling morale, especially after Musk publicly criticized one of Twitter’s top lawyers involved in content moderation decisions. As Twitter executives prepared to move forward with the deal, the company instituted a hiring freeze, halted discretionary spending and fired two top executives. The San Francisco company has also laid off staff, most recently a member of its talent acquisition team.
