Elon Musk has been making his mark on Twitter the past few days and has now been named sole director.
Key Details
- Elon Musk officially took ownership of Twitter this past week and is now officially the sole director of the social-media company.
- After agreeing to complete the $44 billion deal and completing the acquisition, Musk fired everyone on the Twitter board and has been named the sole director.
- It was alleged that Musk quickly fired everyone to avoid a big payout, but he has denied those claims.
- He claims to be “chief twit” but not CEO.
Why it’s news
Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter has not been an easy one as there have been many twists and turns in the journey for him to become the director of the company.
Musk officially completed his huge deal to buy the social media company this past weekend and has been quickly making his mark on the platform . The biggest mark—becoming the sole director.
After acquiring Twitter Musk fired multiple people within the company citing his reasoning being that the employees misled him and Twitter investors over the number of spam bots and fake accounts on the platform.
Musk has fired the entire Twitter board that has been attached to the company throughout the entire company buyout thus making him the sole director of the company.
Twitter said in a security filing that the nine board members are no longer with the company and that Musk has always had intentions of being the sole director.
Backing up a Bit
The full timeline between Elon Musk and Twitter is long.
It all started in April, Elon 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% 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.”
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.
Then, 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 and now these documents have come out from Zatko and Musk and his lawyers have subpoenaed him as well.
Then, Musk’s text messages were revealed in court filings and it showed that Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey tried to facilitate Musk’s Twitter takeover, which led to Musk officially reverting back to his original deal to buy the social-media company.
Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick set a trial date and ordered the case would proceed if Musk did not close the deal by October 28, which led to Musk officially accepting the deal.
