Elon Musk has officially taken over Twitter for $ 44 billion, ushering in an uncertain new era that excites some and others anguish about the future of this hugely influential platform.
“The merger between Twitter and X Holdings II”, a company “controlled by Elon Musk, was finalized on October 27,” said the New York Stock Exchange, the NYSE, in a document released to the US market regulator, the SEC. . “All of Twitter’s stock was exchanged for $ 54.20 in cash. “
The stock of the blue bird group was suspended on Friday by the NYSE, which announced plans to remove the stock soon.
“The bird was released,” Elon Musk tweeted Thursday night.
After months of a saga of twists and turns, Mr. Musk immediately fired chief Parag Agrawal and two other executives, chief financial officer Ned Segal and chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, according to anonymous television sources CNBC and the Washington Post.
When questioned by AFP, Twitter did not confirm the information.
Elon Musk had until Friday to complete the acquisition of the social network, otherwise a trial would have taken place in November.
The deal was trailing from the announcement in late April of a $ 44 billion takeover bid, which was reluctantly accepted by Twitter.
The businessman, head of electric vehicle maker Tesla and spaceflight company SpaceX, tried to extricate himself unilaterally in early July, accusing Twitter of lying to him, but the company’s board of directors took legal action.
Earlier this month, just days before the opening of a lawsuit that Twitter seemed on track to win, Elon Musk finally offered to close the transaction at the originally agreed price.
“Future of civilization”
The acquisition of Musk worries a large part of Twitter employees, many users and NGOs who are calling on social networks to better fight abuse, from harassment to disinformation.
Because the multibillionaire presents himself as an ardent defender of freedom of expression and wants to ease the moderation of content.
It opened the door to a return of Donald Trumpousted from Twitter after supporting his followers who took part in theassault on the capital in January 2021.
“Twitter is now in good hands and will no longer be run by crazy radical leftists who genuinely hate our country,” Donald Trump reacted on his own platform, Truth Social.
Republican elected officials and supporters of the former president also welcomed this change. “FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION !!!”, tweeted Marjorie Taylor Greene, elected far-right on Thursday evening.
But advertisers generally prefer to support their ads with consensual content.
On Thursday Elon Musk tried to reassure them by saying he wanted to allow all opinions to be expressed on the microblogging site, without making it a “hellish” platform where everything would be allowed.
It is “important for the future of civilization to have an online public square where a wide variety of opinions can debate in a healthy way, without resorting to violence,” he wrote in a message aimed specifically at brands, which bring the most revenue. of Twitter.
He also assures that he did not initiate the acquisition because it was “easy” or “to make money”, but to “try to help humanity”.
Across the Atlantic, European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton warned the billionaire that Twitter would have to comply with new EU digital regulations that force major platforms to moderate content.
“In Europe the bird will fly according to our European rules,” Breton tweeted.
“Voluntary departures”
Elon Musk also wants to step up the fight against spam. He also made cryptic allusions to “X”, his vision of an all-purpose application (messaging, social networking, financial services, etc.), like WeChat in China.
Twitter, which at the end of June had 238 million so-called “active” daily users, attracts a smaller audience than a giant like Facebook, but many policy-makers, businesses and the media.
Financially, Twitter will be under pressure from the start.
The 13 billion dollar loan contracted by Elon Musk for its acquisition will have to be repaid by the company, and not by the entrepreneur, according to the acquisition mechanism of indebtedness (LBO).
The game seems tight for a company that has always struggled to generate profits and is threatened with withdrawal by some advertisers.
The release of the Twitter assessment gives full freedom to Elon Musk, who plans to lay off thousands of the group’s employees, according to several American media outlets.
Earlier this month, however, he said it was “essential” that his flagship Tesla be listed on Wall Street, “because if the public doesn’t like what Tesla is doing, the public can buy stock and vote differently. adding, hilariously: “It’s very important that I can’t just do what I want.”
