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Highlights
- Elon Musk has finally closed Twitter acquisition.
- Musk has been signalling this takeover since April this year.
Last night, SpaceX founder Elon Musk formally closed the long-awaited Twitter acquisition in a US$44 billion deal and commenced his authority by firing multiple top executives, including the CEO, Parag Agrawal.
The leadership team became the first target for Musk. Apart from the CEO, Tesla co-founder fired Twitter’s CFO Ned Segel, Legal Affairs and Policy Chief Vijaya Gadde, and General Counsel Sean Edgett.
A glance at the Twitter acquisition timeline
Elon Musk has been signalling this takeover since April this year. Many changes have occurred in the last six months. Below is the timeline showing everything that has happened so far:
4 April: It all began on April 4 of this year when Musk disclosed his 9.2% stake in Twitter, making him the company's largest shareholder and worth nearly US$3 billion. The share prices of the social media platform increased significantly as a result of this development (by roughly 25%).
5 April: Just after disclosing his stake position, Musk was offered a seat on Twitter’s board, but only if he did not acquire more than 14.9% of the company's stock.
11 April: Musk declined the invitation to join the board, and the CEO of Twitter tweeted about it. However, the offer, according to Parag Agrawal, would be subject to his input.
14 April: Three days later, Musk being his real self, made an offer to buy Twitter for US$41 billion. He further stated that Twitter needs to be turned private in order to develop and turn into a platform for free speech.
15 April: To put a stop to this buyout proposal, Twitter unveiled a defence plan called poison pill. The San Francisco-based company’s poison pill defence can be explained as imposing a penalty on any investor who increases their ownership stake in the company by at least 15% without the board's consent. If the investor amasses a 15% ownership or greater, Twitter’s plan will be triggered.
25 April: However, Twitter’s poison pill defence didn’t work, and Musk clinched a deal to buy Twitter for US$44 billion.
29 April: Musk raised money for this acquisition by selling 9.6 million shares of Tesla valued at US$8.5 billion.
10 May: As indicated very clearly by Elon Musk that he wants Twitter to stand as a free speech platform; he said to lift the ban of former US President Donald Trump on Twitter as soon as he buys it.
13 May: Due to the need for more information on the number of fake and spam accounts, the acquisition of Twitter was temporarily put on hold.
26 May: In the midst of Elon Musk's $44 billion takeover proposal, Twitter shareholders filed a lawsuit against him, alleging that he manipulated the company's stock price downward.
6 June: Musk threatened to withdraw his bid to buy Twitter if the leadership team doesn't share information on spam and fake accounts.
16 June: Musk held a virtual meeting with Twitter employees to allay their concerns about the takeover.
8 July: Musk was again sued by Twitter for sending the acquisition termination letter to the board.
11 July: As a result of Elon Musk's letter that he is dropping his bid for Twitter, its shares drop more than 9% on the first day of trade.
12 July: Twitter sues Musk to compel him to finalise the transaction, Musk answered by filing a countersuit.
26 July: Musk requested a judge to set a five-day trial on October 17, not October 10, as Twitter had sought earlier to address his attempt to renege on the US$44 billion acquisition deal.
15 August: According to a court ruling, Twitter must provide Musk with documents from a former Twitter executive who he claimed was crucial in determining how many fake accounts were present on the network.
24 August: Twitter witnessed increasing staff departures due to the company’s whistle-blower charges and the legal dispute with Musk.
30 August: Musk submitted more documents in his attempt to sever the deal. This was based on details in a complaint made by Twitter's former head of security under the federal whistle-blower law.
12 September: The majority of Twitter's shareholders approved of this acquisition.
15 September: Musk accused Twitter of fraud and alleges that its data security problems were covered up, allowing him to terminate the contract.
25 September: Musk will spend the next few days with Twitter’s attorneys in preparation for the October trial.
4 October: Musk announced to proceed with his initial US$44 billion offer to buy out Twitter, putting an end to the legal dispute that was set to go to trial this month.
6 October: After months of battling to get out of his proposal, a judge postponed the trial between Twitter and Musk, giving him additional time to complete the purchase of the firm.
13 October: Musk went under investigation by federal authorities for his actions during the takeover of Twitter.
26 October: Musk’s video tweet made headlines for walking into Twitter offices in San Francisco with a sink. The caption stated ‘Let that sink in’. He also added ‘Chief Twit’ to his Twitter bio on the same day.
27 October: Finally, the day when the acquisition came to a closure.
