The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has officially purchased Twitter for a whopping $44 billion and installed himself as “Chief Twit.” This role had been unfilled since January 2021, when Twitter suspended Donald Trump.
You’ve got questions about the Twitter acquisition; we’ve got answers.
How is Musk taking Twitter private?
Musk created a holding company called X Holdings that is buying every Twitter share. If you are currently holding a share in Twitter, you will soon be holding $54.20. Musk will be holding Twitter by the ear, and there’ll be no holding him back.
I do not have any shares in Twitter, but I do have thousands of followers. Can I sell them?
Many people are wondering the same thing. You’ve worked hard to build a huge following on Twitter, but now that Musk is in control, you’d like to emigrate from Twitterland. The best option is to urge your Twitter followers to follow you to another platform, and hope and pray that Elon Musk does not follow you there.
Why is Musk taking Twitter private?
Taking it private allows him to make any changes he wants without answering to stockholders. He can rule over Twitterland like Putin rules over Russia. He can roll out the red carpet for Trump, fire missiles at Bill Gates, try to annex part of Instagram. He can appoint his children to the board of directors and give Kanye West the title of Deputy Chief Twit. Will he do any of this? It’s hard to say, but you may be reassured to know that Musk is a brilliant man who isn’t likely to do anything crazier than buying Twitter for $44 billion.
Will Musk clean house?
He has already begun cleaning house, sweeping out several executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal. They all have golden parachutes – severance packages worth millions – and will easily land on their feet, as long as Musk hasn’t tampered with those parachutes.
Musk is also expected to lay off a large portion of Twitter’s 7,500 employees. Some of them have already started searching for jobs, while others are comforting themselves with the thought of staying home for a while and retweeting unflattering photos of Elon Musk.
What changes can we expect at Twitter?
Musk has said that he plans to promote free speech on Twitter and is creating a content moderation council that will decide what’s permissible and whether to reinstate the accounts of Trump and others. White supremacists and other racists will probably not be allowed to tweet whatever they want and a few of them may have to resort to just sending press releases from their offices in Congress.
Musk is trying hard to reassure advertisers that Twitter will not become a space for unrestrained hate speech. He has told them he plans to make Twitter the most respected advertising platform in the world owned by a South African with a boyish grin.
Here are few of other changes you can expect:
–Every Tesla will soon be equipped with hands-free tweeting. This will be a useful feature when you spot something on the side of the road and want to tweet about it: “Just spotted a man holding a sign that says, ‘Please Help. Need Money for Mortgage. Recently laid off from Twitter.”
–Twitter will add subscription services. You may soon have to pay a few dollars a month to see what Kim Kardashian is wearing on her birthday, where she is vacationing, and whom she plans on marrying next.
–Like China’s WeChat platform, Musk will turn Twitter into a super app, allowing you to do everything on the app: track your fitness, order restaurant food, get a date, find a job, hire a therapist to help you with your phone addiction.
