Elon Musk already owns Twitter
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has taken control of Twitter after completing a $44 billion acquisition of the social network on Thursday, according to several articles in the American trade press.
After months of back-and-forth, the world’s richest man immediately fired boss Parag Agrawal and two other executives, chief financial officer Ned Segal and chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, the unnamed sources said. Washington post. Twitter did not immediately respond to AFP’s request.
Elon Musk had to complete the acquisition of the social network by Friday, otherwise the test would have taken place in November. The transaction has been delayed since the announcement of a $44 billion buyout offer by Twitter in late April, which was reluctantly accepted.
Although the entrepreneur tried to quit unilaterally in early July, accusing the company of lying to him, the company’s board of directors took legal action.
Earlier this month, just days before the filing of a lawsuit that appeared to be on the way to a takeover of Twitter, Elon Musk finally offered to close the deal at the originally agreed upon price. Indications that the operation will take place as soon as justice allows have abounded this week.
The world’s richest man visited Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco on Wednesday, calling himself “Chief Twit” – “twit” which means “crazy” in English – on his profile. The New York Stock Exchange, where Twitter is listed, said the company’s shares would be suspended ahead of the opening of trading on Friday.
“Future of Civilization”
On Thursday, Elon Musk tried to calm advertisers by saying that he wants to allow all opinions to be expressed without turning the social network into a platform. “hell” where everything is allowed.
He is “It is essential to the future of civilization that we have an online public space where diverse opinions can be discussed in a healthy way without resorting to violence”he wrote in a message specifically addressed to the brands that generate most of Twitter’s revenue.
The entrepreneur, who bills himself as a staunch defender of freedom of expression, has already said he intends to ease content moderation, rekindling concerns about a possible resurgence of abuse and misinformation on the platform.
It opened the door, for example, to the return of Donald Trump, who was fired from Twitter shortly after the January 2021 attack on the Capitol. What has stopped advertisers who generally prefer to support their ads with consensual content.
In his message, Elon Musk assures that he did not initiate the takeover “easy” Where “Earn Money”but for “trying to help humanity”. Users should be able to choose what they see online “according to their preferences, such as watching all-ages movies or playing video games”noted.
“Voluntary Departures”
Elon Musk also wants to strengthen the fight against spam. He also made cryptic allusions to “X,” a vision for an all-in-one app (messaging, social networking, financial services, etc.) like China’s WeChat.
“Corporate culture is likely to change profoundly and rapidly,” Berkeley University law professor Adam Badawi emphasizes. According to an article Washington post Last week, the businessman told investors that he intends to lay off almost 75% of Twitter’s 7,500 employees.
“He hurt a lot of people”, notes an employee who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity. He estimated that more than 700 workers have left the California group since June, according to internal figures. “These are voluntary departures, either for ethical reasons or for basic financial reasons, because the unlisted company is less interesting.”believes
Leader actually planned to delist Twitter. At the beginning of the month, he declared this at the conference “important” That Tesla is listed on Wall Street, “Because if the public doesn’t like what Tesla is doing, the public can buy shares and vote differently.” “It’s very important that I can’t do what I want”he added, amused.
