How did it come to this?
Earlier this month, it emerged that Musk had bought into Twitter. After that, the ball quickly started rolling: barely ten days after it became known that the Tesla CEO was the largest shareholder, he made an offer for the platform.
The internet company reacted negatively by activating a so-called ‘poison pill’. This allowed existing shareholders to buy additional shares at a discount. The plan, which was unanimously approved by the board of directors, did allow the board of directors to still approve a takeover bid.
On Thursday, Musk said he had secured financing in the amount of $46.5 billion, after which American media reported that Twitter viewed the offer with less skepticism. Less than two weeks after his first offer, Musk gets his hands on Twitter.
Why did the takeover come about despite the opposition?
Musk previously indicated that he also doubts the success of his takeover attempt, but in recent days he had meetings with shareholders of Twitter to gather support for his offer. Many shareholders took to Twitter after Musk unveiled his plans for the acquisition last week, emphasizing that the company should not miss this opportunity. In the end, Musk managed to get the unanimous approval of the Twitter board.
Why did Musk have his eye on Twitter?
The Tesla boss sees Twitter as a town square, where the free exchange of ideas and ideas should be central. He sees limiting this as an undermining of democracy, he tweeted this month.
Musk, for example, thinks that Twitter should undo the ban of former President Donald Trump. As far as he is concerned, people may be temporarily banned from the platform, but not forever, as has happened to Trump and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Musk wants everything to be said on Twitter as long as it remains legal. That’s complicated, because each country has its own legal restrictions on freedom of expression, but in line with Musk’s view that the role of government is as small as possible and citizens enjoy as much freedom as possible.
What does this mean for the future of Twitter?
Musk wants Twitter to make more profit in the first place. The number of users of the service lags behind competitors: where Facebook has three billion users, Instagram about one and a half billion and TikTok around one billion, Twitter remains at 436 million.
According to Musk, who himself has 82.6 million followers, Twitter needs to be thoroughly reformed to “unlock” the network’s “potential”. But exactly what plans he has is still unclear. Musk hinted at an edit button, with which sent tweets can be edited afterwards, and joked that he wants to turn Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco into a homeless shelter.
Musk also hinted that he wants to make the algorithm that determines which tweets are highlighted, transparent. Tech experts have serious doubts about the technical feasibility of such an ‘open source’ algorithm, but for Musk it fits with the openness he sees as a precondition for open debate, and with his vision as an absolutist of free speech.
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