The Musk expensive bird
The world's richest man agreed to join Twitter's board, but backed out at the last minute and offered to buy the company for $54.2 a share, an offer that Twitter thought might be another Musk prank stemming from his cannabis use, but turned out to be true, and over the weekend in late April, the two sides reached an agreement on a proposed price.
"The bird is freed," he tweeted after completing his $44 billion acquisition on Thursday, referencing Twitter's bird logo in an apparent nod to his desire to see the company have fewer limits on the content that can be posted, and he also changed his job description to that of company head, "Chief Twit."
the bird is freed
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
As confirmed by The Washington Post, Musk fired top executives immediately, but provided little clarity on how he will achieve the lofty ambitions he has outlined for the prestigious social media platform. Among those fired were Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal and legal policy director Vijaya Gadde. Official sources quoted by the same newspaper say that the company's general counsel, Sean Edgett, was also dismissed. Among the reasons Musk accused them of misleading him and Twitter investors about the number of fake accounts on the platform.
However, Musk has offered no details on how he will accomplish all of this and who will run the company. He has said he plans to cut jobs, leaving Twitter's 7,500 employees worried about their future. He also said on Thursday that he did not acquire Twitter to further increase his fortune, but "to try to help humanity, which I love". Both Twitter's chief financial officer and senior executive had to be escorted out of the company's San Francisco offices.
However, the CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc. and self-described free speech absolutist also said he wants to prevent the platform from becoming a chamber for disseminating messages that generate rancour, hatred and segmentation within users. Other goals circumscribe wanting to "overthrow" spambots on Twitter and make the algorithms that set how content is presented to its users openly available. Musk, who also runs rocket company SpaceX, plans to become Twitter's CEO after completing the acquisition and also plans to repudiate permanent bans on users, Bloomberg reported.
He also sought to allay employee concerns about impending mass layoffs, assuring advertisers that his earlier criticism of Twitter's content moderation rules would not hurt its appeal. Musk said he sees Twitter as the basis for a "super app" that offers everything from sending money to shopping and sharing.
The Tesla CEO has tweeted in the past that employees should anticipate "extreme" work ethic expectations. The entrepreneur has also tweeted that his plans for Twitter include "X, the app for everything". Musk said that advertising will have a prominent place on the network going forward. According to him, ads, "if well understood, can entertain, please and inform" the user, explaining for example that there is a new medical treatment. "Fundamentally," he concludes in his message to advertisers, "Twitter aims to become the world's most respected advertising platform that will strengthen your brands and grow your business. Let's build something extraordinary together. On news of Musk's buyout message, Twitter shares were up 1.16% in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange".
Some suggest that this could be similar to China's successful WeChat, a kind of "SuperApp" that incorporates different services including messaging, social networking, payments and food ordering.
Americas Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra.
