Elon Musk finally completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc., according to people who are familiar with this matter, the world’s richest man takes charge after long time of 6 months struggle with public and legal wrangling over the deal for the social network
Now Twitter will operate as a private company and the shareholders will be paid $54.20 per share.
The conclusion brings to an end a complicated process that commenced in January with the billionaire quietly accumulating a sizable investment in the company, his developing expression of how the way it’s handled and run, and an eventual merger agreement that he later spent months trying to unravel.
Musk agreed to proceed on his originally proposed terms On Oct. 4, and a Delaware Chancery Court judge gave the two sides until Oct. 28 to close the deal. That deadline was met, and now the CEO of both Tesla Inc. and SpaceX Elon Musk, also takes control of Twitter, a service he uses frequently but openly criticizes, and he has promised to modify dramatically. Stocks of the company’s shares are no longer expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
As the deadline is close, Musk began to stamp his mark on the company, posting a video of himself entering the headquarters and changing his profile descriptor on the platform he now owns to “Chief Twit.” He planned to address the staff on Friday and arranged the meetings in between Tesla Engineers and product leadership at Twitter. According to the people, Twitter’s developers could no longer make modifications to code as of noon Thursday in San Francisco, as part of an effort to guarantee that nothing about the product changes until the deal closes.
Since the merger was revealed in April, Twitter staff have been bracing for layoffs, and Musk mentioned the concept of cost cutbacks to banking partners when he was initially fundraising for the deal. A person familiar with the subject earlier this month told some possible investors that Musk aims to reduce 75% of Twitter’s employees, which now numbers around 7,500, and expects revenue to double within three years.
According to people familiar with the matter said, while visiting the headquarters on Wednesday, Musk told all employees of Twitter that he does not intend to lay off 75% of the company’s employees when he takes over.
During an all-hands meeting in June following his acquisition deal, Musk stated that Twitter “needs to get healthy,” a reference to cost-cutting. He has also stated that only “extraordinary” employees will be permitted to work from home, with everyone else required to come to the office. Twitter, situated in San Francisco, was one of the first significant corporations to guarantee all employees the ability to work from anywhere “forever.”
Twitter has assisted him in some of his efforts. In May, the company declared a hiring freeze, shuttered or downsized many locations worldwide, and canceled a companywide trip to Disneyland in 2023.
It was long assumed that Agrawal would step down once Musk took over. Text conversations revealed during the case suggest that the two men had a contentious discussion early in the process, and Musk later criticized Agrawal for being on vacation in Hawaii during some of the early negotiations. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s efforts to get them back together after the merger was announced ended poorly.
The last six months have been difficult for Twitter employees, who have mostly followed the ups and downs of the roller-coaster agreement via news headlines.
Catch all the breaking news, and headlines on Business, Social Media, World, Research Editorial, Healthcare News
