“Let that sink in”, the thought with which world’s richest man, CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk entered his recent acquisition, Twitter’s headquarters, is what we all are feeling presently.
After a series of tweets and suspense, Elon Musk has finally registered the social networking site, Twitter, under his name. This eventually turned out to be a corporate saga none of us knew would unfold like so.
To jog your memories and take you through the incidents that became the building blocks of this deal, here is a timeline of 2022’s most exciting takeover:
JANUARY 31: Elon Musk gradually yet quietly started buying off shares in the company, acquiring nearly 5% by mid- march.
MARCH 26: Usually quite active on the platform himself, Musk questions the idea of free speech on Twitter and brings the thought of making up a competitive app to Twitter in front of the audience.
MARCH 27: After privately informing the company of the shares he had bought, Elon Musk starts conversations with its CEO and board members regarding joining the board of Twitter.
APRIL 4: Twitter came out with a public statement that Musk has taken a 9.2 per cent share of the company, or 73.5 million shares, worth about $3 billion.
APRIL 5: Musk is offered a seat on Twitter’s board with no more than 14.9% of company’s stocks; CEO Parag Agarwal confirms over tweet.
APRIL 11: To everyone’s shock, Musk rejects the seat to the board. CEO Parag Agarwal announces he will not be joining the board afterall.
APRIL 14: In an SEC filing and accompanying tweet, Musk offers to buy the whole company in a cash deal valued at $44 billion.
APRIL 15: Twitter’s board unanimously adopts a “poison pill” defense in response to Musk’s proposed offer, attempting to thwart a hostile takeover.
APRIL 16: In a flurry of tweets about the potential deal, Musk said, “With Jack departing, the Twitter board collectively owns almost no shares,” so its economic interests are not aligned with shareholders.
APRIL 21: Musk lines up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter, pressurising Twitter to negotiate.
APRIL 25: Elon Musk reaches a deal of $44 billion to buy Twitter and puts forward his wish to own and privatize the company owing to his concerns regarding the freedom of speech on the platform.
APRIL 25: Musk sells roughly $8.5 billion worth of shares in Tesla to help fund the purchase of Twitter, according to regulatory filings.
MAY 4: Elon Musk strengthens his offer to buy the company and raises an additional $7.1 billion of new financing commitments to fund the deal.
MAY 10: Musk calls the decision of banning then US President Donald Trump ‘morally bad’ and ‘foolish’ and makes his intentions to undoing these changes clear to public.
MAY 13: Musk declares his plan to buy Twitter “temporarily on hold.” Musk said he was waiting for details on a recent filing from Twitter that fake accounts on the social media platform contributed less than 5% of its users.
MAY 16: Musk and Agarwal have a clash of opinions over tweet with Agarwal recognising the idea of checking fake accounts impractical and Musk reacting to it with a poop emoji.
MAY 17: Musk declared he won’t proceed with his takeover plan unless the social media giant can prove bots make up fewer than 5% of its users.
JUNE 6: Musk accuses Twitter of refusing to provide information on spam bot accounts he asked for and so threatens to end his deal of buying the platform.
JULY 12: Twitter sues Musk; files suit in Delaware Chancery Court to compel Musk to complete the deal. Musk soon countersues.
JULY 19: A Delaware Chancery Court judge says the Musk-Twitter legal case will go to trial in October.
AUGUST 23: A former head of security at Twitter alleges the company misled regulators about its poor cybersecurity defences and its negligence in attempting to root out fake accounts that spread misinformation.
OCTOBER 5: Musk proposes to continue with his prior offer of buying off Twitter at $44 billion.
OCTOBER 6: October 17 trial gets delayed in the Delaware court until November and gives both sides until Oct. 28 to come to conclusion to close the deal.
OCTOBER 20: Musk told prospective Twitter investors that he plans to lay off 75% of the company’s 7,500 employees. (report from Washington Post)
OCTOBER 26: The recent viral video of Elon Musk carrying a sink in Twitter Headquarters indicating the deal is set to go through.
He also informs co investors he is planning to close the deal by Friday.
OCTOBER 27: Elon Musk completes take over of Twitter takes vigorous actions including firing of CEO Parag Agarwal among other top executives.
