Musk’s flirtation with the Twitter purchase seemed 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 of the company and that it was interested in joining the board, taking Private Twitter or create a competitor. Then, on April 4, he revealed in a regulatory filing that he had become the company’s largest shareholder after acquiring a 9% stake worth about $ 3 billion ($ 4.37 million). dollars).
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At first, Twitter offered Musk a seat on his board. But six days later, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted that Musk will not join the board after all. His offer to buy the company came together quickly after that.
Musk had agreed to buy Twitter for $ 54.20 ($ 78.95) per share, inserting a “420” marijuana reference into its bid price. It sold approximately $ 8.5 billion ($ 12.38 billion) in Tesla shares to help finance the purchase, and then strengthened its commitments of more than $ 7 billion ($ 10.2 billion) from a diverse group of investors, including Silicon Valley greats like Oracle. co-founder Larry Ellison.
Within Twitter, Musk’s bid was met with confusion and a drop in morale, especially after Musk publicly criticized one of Twitter’s top lawyers involved in content moderation decisions.
As Twitter executives prepared for the deal to move forward, the company instituted a hiring freeze, stopped discretionary spending, and fired two senior executives. The San Francisco-based company has also been laying off staff, most recently as part of its talent acquisition team.
Reuters, AP
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