Tesla CEO Elon Musk has now become Twitter Chief after he finally took over one of the most popular social media platform in one of the biggest deals in the sphere of technology. His first tweet, “The bird is freed,” signaled his takeover of Twitter.
the bird is freed
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
Elon Musk has also said that he wants to keep the social media platform safe from becoming a hot spot for hate and division, reported news agency Reuters. Other objectives include trying to “fight” spam bots on Twitter and opening up the algorithms that decide how material is shown to consumers.
Musk, who is never hesitant to indulge in theatrics, entered Twitter’s headquarters on Wednesday with a wide grin and a porcelain sink in hand before finalizing the $44 billion deal, tweeting “let that sink in” in the process. He modified his Twitter profile’s description to “Chief Twit.”
Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022
Timeline of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter
January 31:
Elon Musk starts buying shares of Twitter acquired a stake of 5% in the company by mid-March.
March 26:
Musk stated he is “seriously thinking” of a Twitter alternative, speculating its commitment to “free speech” and whether it is undermining democracy.
March 27:
Elon Musk started talking to the CEO and board members of Twitter about perhaps joining the board. In later regulatory filings, it was revealed that he had also considered taking Twitter private or founding a rival.
April 4:
A regulatory filing revealed that Musk has quickly become the biggest shareholder of Twitter after acquiring a 9% stake (73.5 million shares) – worth about $3 billion.
April 5:
Musk was offered a seat on Twitter’s board on the condition he acquires no more than 14.9% of the company’s stock.
April 9:
The relationship between Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and Elon Musk went bitter after Musk publicly tweeted: “Is Twitter dying?” To this, Agrawal replied the criticism as unhelpful.
April 11:
Parag Agrawal announced Musk will not be joining the board after all.
April 14:
Twitter revealed in a securities filing that Musk has offered to buy the company for about $44 billion.
April 21:
Musk lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter.
April 25:
Elon Musk agreed to a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion and take the company private. He said that he wanted to own and privatize Twitter because he thinks “it is not living up to its potential as a platform for free speech.”
April 29:
Musk sold around $8.5 billion worth of shares in Tesla to help fund the purchase of Twitter.
May 5:
Musk made his offer concrete to buy Twitter with commitments of more than $7 billion from a diverse group of investors.
May 10:
Elon Musk said that he would remove the ban on former US president Donald Trump’s Twitter account after the US Capitol violence.
May 13:
Musk declared his plan to buy Twitter is “temporarily on hold.”
June 6:
Elon Musk accused Twitter of refusing to give him the information he requested about its spam bot accounts and threatened to end his $44 billion agreement.
July 12:
Twitter sued Musk and asked him to complete the deal. Musk countersued.
July 19:
A Delaware judge said the Musk-Twitter legal dispute will go to trial in October.
August 23:
Former head of security at Twitter alleged that the company “misled regulators about its poor cybersecurity defenses” and its negligence in attempting to root out fake accounts that spread misinformation. Musk cited the whistleblower as a new reason to scuttle his Twitter deal.
October 5:
Musk offered to go through with his original proposal to buy Twitter for $44 billion.
October 6:
Delaware judge delayed October 17 trial until November and gave both sides until October 28 to reach an agreement to close the deal.
October 20:
Reports said that Musk planned to lay off 75 percent of the company’s employees.
October 26:
Musk posted a video of himself entering Twitter headquarters carrying a kitchen sink, indicating that the deal is set to go through. He also updated his Twitter profile’s bio to “Chief Twit”.
October 27:
Musk took control of Twitter and reportedly fired the company’s CEO, chief financial officer, and general counsel.
Elon Musk Fires CEO Parag Agrawal
Apart from his tweet, what’s making headlines is the fact that has done what was being feared for some time, firing top Twitter executives. He fired CEO Parag Agrawal who was Twitter’s legal head and policy maker Vijaya Gadde along with CFO Nel Segal.
However, that will not affect Parag Agrawal’s finances who was appointed CEO in November last year. According to reports, Twitter will give Agrawal $42 million in case he was sacked within 12 months of a change in leadership.
According to a statement to Reuters, the research firm Equilar calculated Agrawal’s annual base pay as well as the “accelerated vesting of all equity awards.” The estimate was also based on terms in the company’s proxy statement and the price Musk offered, $54.20 per share.
Parag Agrawal replaced then CEO Jack Dorsey last year in November. Agrawal was compensated with $30.4 million which he received in stock awards. Parag Agrawal had stayed with Twitter for a decade and in his early days Twitter was budding with less than a 1000 employees.
When rumours of Musk acquiring Twitter initially surfaced, Agarwal’s firing was foreseen. The fact that Musk believed the Twitter administration to be ineffective and that he despised Agarwal and wanted to get rid of him as soon as he acquired him were both evidenced by his leaked talks.
