Elon Musk is no stranger to the headlines; in fact, many would argue that he thrives from the attention. His social media page has certainly had some controversial opinions in the past which have led him to be someone you either love or you hate. However, over recent weeks he has hit the headlines for his alleged wish to take over Twitter, with users worrying about what changes it could make to any tweets they wish to send in the future.
His Twitter Takeover Bid
Last month Elon Musk sent the internet community into a tailspin when he launched a takeover bid to buy Twitter. The saga started when the American billionaire bought substantial shares in the company before trying to get onto the board of directors. The board of directors’ deal came with conditions, which included a ban on Musk owning more than 4% of the company. While it initially looked like this would go ahead, Elon Musk instead turned around and made a bid for the whole company.
Is It Going Ahead?
Despite this, Elon has just announced that the deal could be in trouble. There have been numerous issues along the way, including the argument about free speech and inviting Donald Trump back onto the platform, the question of how much the shares are worth and now Musk is concerned about the number of fake or spam accounts that are on the platform. So, is the deal likely to go ahead? And if so, what changes can you expect to see hitting your feed soon?
Currently, analysts are arguing about whether the deal will go ahead or if the billionaire will pull out – some are saying that it looks like he might be trying to find a way to renegotiate the price he pays or simply pull out altogether. The most recent issue is that he doesn’t believe Twitter’s claim that 5% of accounts are fake or spam, believing it to be a lot higher and refusing to move forward until Twitter can provide proof of this being true. Musk claimed that Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal had publicly refused to show any proof to back up the calculation of 5% spam accounts.
How Are Negotiations Going So Far?
Many critics have pointed out that arguing over the figure of 5% spam accounts might seem over the top – as one of the most popular platforms on the internet 5% still represents a small chunk of a huge number of accounts. The potential reason for this argument is that Elon Musk’s offer of $44 billion to buy Twitter is well over the current share price – in fact, Musk actually had to sell some shares in Tesla to have enough capital available. It’s likely that this offer was made to get Twitter’s attention, but now they’re locked into negotiations there is a termination fee of $1 billion if either party walks away. Of course, for one of the richest people in the world, this is pocket change, but for Twitter, that’s a huge sum that might make it worth being open to negotiation. The reality is that it’s much easier for Musk to walk away than for Twitter, and he’s using this to get a better deal.
What Will Twitter Look Like Under Elons Ownership?
Elon Musk buying Twitter is actually quite likely, and if he does there will be some changes brought to the platform under his leadership. Free speech has been one of Musk’s most controversial issues, with him initially saying that users could talk about anything that wasn’t illegal (but didn’t specify under which country’s laws) the backtracked and added “or hateful”, suggesting that he would tweak content moderation rather than throwing it out the window.
The next issue Musk wanted to tackle was the number of cryptocurrency scams, which could be why he’s so concerned with fake accounts. In 2020 Musk’s was one of the high profile accounts that got hacked and used to promote a Bitcoin scam. Instead, Twitter wanted to push NFTs on the platform.
The next changes that Elon Musk wanted to bring in related to making Twitter more user-friendly. To start with, the billionaire promised to introduce the edit button that everyone has spent years asking for. He also stated that he wanted to open up the algorithm. By making it open-source it would be freely available to download and edit, meaning that users could tweak it to suit them.
Elon Musk is a keen social media user himself so it stands to reason that he will want a platform that he enjoys using and will encourage others to use too. He certainly has been vocal about his love of using Twitter. In fact, since the news of Musk’s purchase of Twitter was announced, the number of tweets he has put out proposing big changes. Someone so passionate about using social media could be well placed in charge of a platform, but of course, the deal is still in negotiations.
Will He Actually Buy It?
Overall, it’s quite likely that Elon Musk will buy Twitter. He wouldn’t have sold shares in Tesla if he wasn’t serious, but he knows that the $1 billion termination fee means more to Twitter than to him, so he can afford to be picky and a tough negotiator moving forward. Of course, as with anything like this, it is still a case of anything can happen, and the headlines could be enough for Elon to have gotten the attention he wanted and not need to buy the platform. With such a large name wanting to take over ownership of the platform there are certainly mixed reviews, but there are still plenty of people that feel the ownership of Twitter falling to Elon could be a really positive move for the platform. There’s every chance that he will buy it and be in charge of all our future tweets, but we’ll have to wait and see if the deal closes.
