Musk retains altering his thoughts about whether or not he needs to purchase the social media firm. We’ll discover out quickly if he’ll really attain a deal.
Elon Musk’s tumultuous negotiations to purchase Twitter that began in April have been a made-for-TV-drama from the very starting.
Simply weeks after Musk put in his provide — when tech inventory costs, together with Twitter’s, started quickly falling — he tried to get out of the deal. Twitter sued. Then, earlier this month, Musk modified his thoughts once more, saying he really needs to purchase the corporate in spite of everything, simply in time to delay trial proceedings with the social media firm.
Now, Musk and Twitter have till October 28 to kind out in the event that they’re really going to succeed in an settlement, or find yourself again in court docket.
Musk is the world’s richest man who’s already busy sufficient constructing rockets, electrical vehicles, and underground tunnels. So there’s good motive why he could not wish to repair Twitter’s many difficult points round political speech, content material moderation, and spam. To not point out, he’ll need to discover a option to make Twitter — which has struggled to be persistently worthwhile — really earn more cash. To date, his plans are reportedly to chop Twitter’s workers by 75 p.c to chop prices and to show Twitter right into a “superapp” known as “X” that might be used for extra than simply communication.
Making issues extra difficult, the Biden administration is reportedly contemplating a nationwide safety assessment of the deal due to Musk’s latest tweets in favor of the Russian authorities, and his reliance on overseas traders to fund his provide.
Whether or not the deal ever closes or not, Musk’s bid to purchase Twitter is one other reminder of the immense energy of billionaires like Musk, and the way a few of them appear to have an curiosity in controlling highly effective platforms of speech — for the appropriate worth.
—Shirin Ghaffary, senior correspondant, Recode
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