Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrapped up the purchase of Twitter in a deal valued at $44 billion late this week, following a court-ordered deadline set for today, Oct. 28, after weeks of legal proceedings.
Since announcing plans to purchase the platform at the end of April, Musk had signaled a willingness to back out of the deal, alleging large numbers of bots on the platform in his public comments. The social media platform subsequently sought to enforce the initial terms of the agreement in court, which wrapped up this week.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO arrived at Twitter’s San Francisco office on Thursday carrying a kitchen sink. Later the same day a number of top Twitter executives departed the company, including CEO Parag Agrawal, head of legal policy Vijaya Gadde, and chief financial officer Ned Segal.
Even before the deal was set to be wrapped up, the Tesla CEO’s comments regarding his future in-office policy for Twitter employees sparked some backlash among the company’s current workers, who balked at having to begin commuting to the office, along with rumors of impending employee cuts.
This week the CEO shed more light on his plans for the social media network in comments directed at advertisers.
“The reason I acquired Twitter is that it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk said in an open message on Thursday, Oct. 27. “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide in our society.”
Musk also indicated in the message that the social media platform “obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!”
Among the possible changes to the platform under his ownership, Musk signaled a willingness to compensate top creators for their content when asked by one user about the matter.
Musk has also indicated that a number of previously banned high-profile users would return, leading some industry watchers to expect the return of former President Donald Trump to the social media platform just days before the midterm elections—an event that is still widely expected to occur.
The initial announcement of Musk’s intention to buy the social media platform was met with mixed reactions from market analysts earlier this spring, who saw the move as an expensive distraction for Tesla with very indefinite benefits down the road—and more than a few financial risks. Industry watchers have also pointed out that Twitter itself had been in a less than favorable financial position for quite some time, and had issues attracting new users.
Some industry observers expressed skepticism over Twitter’s possible direct value to Musk’s own companies, given the fact that the CEO had already enjoyed a broad following and popularity on the platform even without owning it, denting the advertising theory behind the purchase.
Musk’s plans for the platform are expected to become clearer in the coming days.
Source: https://www.autoweek.com/news/industry-news/a41802426/elon-musk-buys-twitter-social-media-deal/