The battle between Elon Musk and Twitter has been months in the making. A new twist seems to develop in the saga weekly.
There is plenty of information within the fight so let’s break it down.
The timeline
It all started in March when Musk reached out to founder and then-CEO Jack Dorsey to discuss “the future direction of social media,” not long after that Musk said he potentially wanted to join the Twitter board.
In April, Musk announced that he held a 9.2% stake in Twitter, which made him the social-media company’s largest shareholder. Twitter’s stock price soared 25 percent after the announcement.
Later that month, the billionaire entrepreneur offered to buy all of Twitter at $54.20 per share—equaling about $44 billion. He said he originally invested in the platform because he believes it is failing in its potential to be the leading platform for free speech around the globe. In fact, he asked his 2 million followers if Twitter adhered to principles of free speech, and 70% said “no.” At first Twitter enacted a defensive measure, but soon after accepted Musk’s offer.
In May, Musk announced he would reverse the social media company’s ban on former president Donald Trump. Four days later, he tweets that the deal is on hold while he learns more about Twitter;s fake accounts.
In July, Musk decided to back out of the deal, claiming there were too many fake accounts on the platform. Twitter has since sued Musk in Delaware Court of Chancery to complete the deal and requested the trial to take place in September. Musk, on the other hand, wanted to delay the trial until February 2023, stating that a case of this size takes time to prepare. Twitter was granted its wish of an expedited trial, with Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, the presiding judge, setting a five-day trial for October.
Musk then countersued Twitter, stating his reason for the termination was due to Twitter not being upfront about the number of fake accounts on the platform.
In early August, Twitter subpoenaed Oracle founder Larry Ellison in its legal battle to make Elon Musk complete his proposed $44-billion purchase of the social media company, according to Bloomberg.
Later, there were signs the deal could be wrapping up. First, the Tesla CEO sold $6.9 billion worth of shares in the electric vehicle maker that he founded and operates, saying the funds could be used to finance a potential Twitter deal if he loses the long-awaited legal battle with the social-media company. Additionally, Musk said the original Twitter deal could move ahead if Twitter would confirm some details about how it measures whether user accounts are “spam bots” or real people.
In mid-August, Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick ruled that Twitter must provide Elon Musk files on spam and bot accounts from the company’s former consumer product head.
This week, Elon Musk and his legal team subpoenaed Twitter’s founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, to get him to release documents that provide accurate information on bots and spam accounts on the social-media platform.
Now, the battle rages on with the latest twist happening yesterday. Twitter’s former security executive Peiter Zatko released a disclosure statement alleging that the social-media company has engaged in a series of security missteps that he says have misled the Twitter board, shareholders, and the public, which could be a potential win for Musk.
The trial is set for October, unless it can be settled before that date approaches.
