Elon Musk is in the process of completely transforming social media as we know it.
The dynamics associated with Big Tech and all its trappings have largely been that of isolation and a general lack of transparency with users who populate social media platforms. Musk is trying to change all of that.
The Tesla CEO began the journey of buying Twitter and taking it private when he first purchased a large amount of stock in the social media company making him the majority stakeholder. This gave him entrance on Twitter’s board of directors, which he later denied.
Musk then put his money where his mouth was and offered to purchase Twitter in its entirety for $46.5 billion with plans to take the social media company private.
However, the deal soured when Twitter’s board issued a “poison pill”, driving up the price by flooding the market with new shares. Then Elon sent a cryptic tweet, as he is wont to do, which implied the entire deal was off.
Moving on …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 24, 2022
But that’s not the entire story…
Twitter officials and Musk met on Sunday to discuss the proposed $46.5 billion deal many assumed the Big Tech company already rejected. That cryptic “Moving on” tweet sent by Musk was just another one of his social media trolls after all. He added this on later…
(from making fun of Gates for shorting Tesla while claiming to support climate change action)
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 24, 2022
Musk was referring to a series of screenshots of text messages between him and Bill Gates he published to expose the hypocrisy of the Microsoft CEO, who deliberately shorted Tesla stock despite pushing ‘green’ technologies.
in case u need to lose a boner fast pic.twitter.com/fcHiaXKCJi
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 23, 2022
Sources say that Twitter executives were still trying to figure out how much the company is worth before pulling the trigger on any kind of deal with Musk. Twitter will report its first-quarter earnings on Thursday, and people said it is expected to have more to say about the deal then.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, Musk said he was exploring a tender offer to purchase outstanding Twitter shares of stock at $54.20 per share — a number he reportedly told Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor he isn’t planning to budge from. Musk claimed he secured $46.5 billion in financing to purchase the shares.
If successful, Elon Musk will have a tremendous opportunity to right the wrongs of Big Tech. Instead of being a tool for public manipulation for the sake of progressive politics, social media may once again return to being the de facto ‘town square’ of public opinion.
You know, how it was intended…
Author: Elizabeth Tierney
