Elon Musk and Twitter: A timeline of negotiation to withdrawing from the social network purchase | technology

Although it was short, this period of time was A very turbulent periodwhere the person interested in the social network switched from its wild plans to accusations that the platform spread false statements about spam accounts and violated the agreement between them.

Meanwhile, the world’s richest man was sued by shareholders who saw in “friendly fire” questioning Musk as a way to reduce the market value of the platform for which he offered $44 billion.

See below for the timeline from negotiation to withdrawal.

March 2022: Musk and Freedom of Expression

Reply to a follower on Twittera network of 80 million followers, Musk says he is considering creating a social network to promote “freedom of expression” on the Internet.

Executive also A series of polls on your profile about role Twitter As a “square” it must allow for divergence of opinions.

At that point, the billionaire had already bought shares in the company, but the news wouldn’t come out until weeks later.

April 1st: Edit button

.’s official profile Twitter Pointed out that the social network He was creating a feature to edit tweets. The post was taken as an April Fool’s joke, but the information the company is studying about how to add the job was confirmed days later, even by Musk.

The founder of Tesla becomes The largest individual contributor to the social network with 9.2% of the company’s shares.

April 5: nomination to the company’s board of directors

Musk has been appointed as a member of the Board of Directors Twitter One day after disclosing its participation in the company. The money mogul responded to a post from the CEO of the social network, Parag Agrawal, Promising to make “significant improvements” to the platform.

On the day your evaluation will be considered for the Board of Directors TwitterHey The billionaire gives up a seat in the group that leads the social network.

April 14: Musk made a presentation

Billionaire submits a proposal to Get all of Twitter for over $44 billionAccording to the regulatory document of the social network. The company’s board of directors said it would evaluate the bid.

April 15: Musk says he has ‘Plan B’ and doesn’t want the money

One day after your show, Elon Musk He says in an interview that You have a “Plan B” in case you can’t buy a Twitter. He claims that “making money” through the social network is not at the heart of the negotiations and said the platform is an important arena for freedom of expression in the world.

In the same interview, he said that eliminating bot and fake accounts would be one of his priorities when taking over the social network.

Bots or bots are accounts controlled by a computer program that can do all the actions of a normal user: like content, follow other users, post and retweet posts.

April 21: Purchase of $21 billion out of pocket

Elon Musk It states in a document submitted to the SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission) that it has raised approximately $46.5 billion to fund the operation.

The billionaire says he intends to Allocate $21 billion of your fortune to buy Twitter The remainder will be obtained through two loans with Morgan Stanley, one for $13 billion and the other for $12.5 billion.

a Twitter announces that it has closed a A final deal that Musk buys. The transaction value is estimated at $44 billion.

With the purchase, the Twitter It will become a privately owned company, i.e. the shares will no longer trade on the stock exchange. It is also said that shareholders will receive $54.20 per common share, which means a premium of 38% over the April 1 share price.

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April 29: Musk wants to cut wages

The American press indicates that musk It can reduce the salaries of executives and board of directors from social media. This could have been one of the arguments used to convince bankers to lend money to buy Twitter.

According to Reuters, people “with knowledge of the matter” said the pole said he might cut the salaries of the social media company’s executives and board of directors in an effort to cut costs from the social network, and will evolve. New ways to monetize tweets.

a Twitter respect that Less than 5% of your user base are fake or spam accounts.

The information was presented in the company’s quarterly earnings report. According to the document, the social network has 229 million active users. According to Musk, the Twitter You still need to provide numbers that prove this information.

May 6: Shareholders challenge the purchase

Florida retirement fund The billionaire is suing the social network Arguing that Musk made deals with other major shareholders, including his financial advisor Morgan Stanley and the platform’s founder, Jack Dorseyto support the purchase

Therefore, the purchase cannot be completed before 2025.

May 10: Musk talks about Trump’s comeback

at the conference, Elon Musk Says he will reject former US President Donald Trump’s comment Twitter.

“I would like to cancel the permanent suspension [de Trump]’, says Musk at a Financial Times event. The businessman says he and Jack Dorseyone of the founders Twitteragree that there should not be a permanent ban on the social network.

a Twitter call The dismissal of the heads of the consumption and revenue departments. The company also announced a temporary halt in hiring and a review of job vacancies, according to Reuters news agency.

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May 12: Dorsey doesn’t want to come back

Reply to a follower on Twitterco-founder and former CEO of the social network, Jack Dorsey He says he does not want to become the CEO of the platform again. Before Elon Musk Buying stock, Dorsey was the company’s largest single shareholder and a member of its board of directors.

May 13: Musk suspends buying for hours

. (Purchase) Agreement Twitter he is temporarily suspended For the pending details confirming that fake accounts actually account for less than 5% of users,” says the businessman in a post on the social network.

After the announcement, actions Twitter decreased by about 20% In negotiations before the opening of the Wall Street Stock Exchange, according to AFP.

Hours later, Musk tweeted again that he was still “committed to buy.” from the social network.

May 14: Musk wants to count spam

Billionaire announces it Your team will perform a sample analysis with 100 profiles From Twitter To find out the number of counterfeiters.

Musk says on social media that the legal team at Twitter a Accused of violating confidentiality agreement He revealed that the sample size of the platform’s checks on bots and fake accounts was 100 profiles. For the company, this data is internal and confidential.

May 16: Poop Emoji

musk Use emoji tube To ridicule the CEO of TwitterParag Agrawal, on how to estimate fake accounts on the social network.

CEO of Twitter He notes that the estimates for spam accounts are well below the 5% the company disclosed, but states that he cannot reveal the exact forecast.

Musk replied with the emoji and asked, “So how do advertisers know what they’re getting for their money? This is critical to the financial health of Twitter“.

May 25 – No affiliation with Tesla

businessman says You will stop using loans that could have been tied to Tesla stock As collateral to finance the purchase Twitter. According to Musk, the $6.25 billion US dollars that will be obtained in this way will come from his own fortune.

contributors to Twitter to treat Elon MuskAnd the Accusing him of manipulating the market to reduce his $44 billion bid Or a margin to negotiate the discount.

According to the lawsuit, the billionaire tweeted and made statements with the aim of raising doubts about the deal that has rocked the social network for weeks.

in message send me Twitterbillionaire actor He says the company has repeatedly refused to provide the information you requested since May 9, 2022 To facilitate your assessment of fake accounts and spam.

The document continues: “Mr. Musk has made it clear that he does not believe the company’s lax testing methodologies are sufficient, so he must conduct his own analysis. The data he requested is necessary for this.”

According to a report in the American newspaper “Washington Post”, the board of directors of the “Washington Post Company” Twitter It plans to provide more internal data to the billionaire to advance the deal to sell the social network.

a Twitter He says he’s planning to make a file Shareholders vote until the beginning of August on the sale of the company.

June 21 – Board recommends selling

advice Twitter Unanimously recommended that shareholders approve The company proposed to sell $44 billion to Musk.

“If the merger is complete, you will be entitled to $54.20 in cash, without interest and subject to any applicable withholding taxes for each share of our common stock that you hold (unless you have properly exercised your drawing rights),” the social network told shareholders.

The billionaire informs in a letter that The purchase agreement has been cancelled From Twitter. In a document sent to the SEC, the US equivalent of the Securities and Exchange Commission, it stated that there had been a violation of several terms of the agreement.

“Preliminary analysis of the consultants holding the information provided by Twitter So far, it makes him strongly believe that the protection of fake accounts and spam included in the reported number of users is much higher than 5%,” the billionaire’s lawyers claim.