Elon Musk’s tumultuous Twitter acquisition talks, which began in April, were made into a TV drama from the start.
Just weeks after Musk made his offer (when the price of tech stocks, including Twitter, began to fall rapidly), he tried to exit the deal. Twitter sued. Then, earlier this month, Musk changed his mind again, saying he eventually wanted to actually buy the company, just in time to delay court proceedings with Social’s media company.
Musk and Twitter now have until October 28 to decide whether to actually reach an agreement or go back to court.
Musk is the richest man in the world and is already busy enough building rockets, electric cars and underground tunnels. So there’s good reason he doesn’t want to fix his Twitter’s many complicated issues around political speech, content moderation, and spam. Needless to say, he has to find ways to actually monetize his Twitter, which has struggled to make money consistently. So far, his plan has been to cut his Twitter staff by 75% to cut costs and turn Twitter into a “super app” called “X” that is used for more than just communication. It is said to change.
Further complicating matters is that the Biden administration, with Musk’s recent tweets endorsing the Russian government and reliance on foreign investors to fund his proposals, has made the deal worse. is reportedly considering a national security review of the
Whether the deal goes through or not, Musk’s attempted acquisition of Twitter will be a testament to the immense power of billionaires like Musk and their interest in controlling a powerful platform of speech at the right price. It reminds me of people who seem to be.
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