Elon Musk affirms it: he would have been forced to buy Twitter with, over his head, the threat of a lawsuit. But has he been forced to transform Twitter from floor to ceiling, with decisions that are increasingly surprising and often questioned?
On April 25, 2022, Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover offer was finally accepted, auctioned at $44 billion. A year later -and 6 months after its effective takeover-, the social network has little to do with the version of yesteryear. We return to the great transformations of the Twitter company, with the demonstration that we can make many questionable decisions in a very short time.
April 25, 2022: Done! (or almost)
Twitter’s board of directors accepts Elon Musk’s takeover bid, which certifies that the social network will be 100% owned by the billionaire, thus becoming a private company. The offer then surprised by its amount: 44 billion dollars while Twitter was only valued at 38 billion dollars at that time.
July 8, 2022: Elon Musk stops buying Twitter
The head of Tesla and SpaceX finally indicates that he terminates the agreement with the Board of Directors of the social network. At issue: “false and misleading” information about the company in the deal. Twitter immediately announces legal action to force Elon Musk to complete the purchase process.
October 4, 2022: Musk returns to the game
The businessman finally agrees to buy Twitter to avoid a lawsuit and heavy economic losses. Both parties (Twitter and Elon Musk) had effectively agreed to pay the costs in the event of a breach of contract. Estimated costs in billions of dollars.
October 27, 2022: This time it’s really done
Elon Musk officially becomes the owner of Twitter, after several months of legal battles. The employer will have waited until the last hours allotted to him to avoid the costly trial mentioned above.
October 28, 2022: Elon Musk begins cleaning employees
One (1!) day after his official takeover of Twitter, Elon Musk decides to kick off his tenure with a bang by immediately firing chief Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and head of legal Vijaya Gadde.
October 31, 2022: Almighty Musk
The new head of Twitter becomes sole leader of the company after dissolving the board of directors. The original nine members of the board of directors have been fired.
November 1, 2022: Twitter Blue arrives
It has been at the center of all the discussions on the platform for several days, and yet it is only six months old: the Twitter Blue subscription. On November 1, Elon Musk thus announced the future arrival of this subscription that would supposedly allow him to certify his account and obtain more advantages than ordinary users.
November 4, 2022: start of the wave of layoffs
A week after the takeover of the social network, Elon Musk indicates that he is launching “the difficult process of reducing the global workforce.” The billionaire is gradually laying off 50% of the roughly 7,500 employees.
A few days later, a second wave of layoffs swept through the social network. More than 4,000 employees are thrown out once again.
November 16, 2022: Twitter Blue on hiatus
Hastily launched by Elon Musk, the paid Twitter Blue subscription is quickly becoming prone to spoofing and misinformation. To deliver a “concrete” tool to users, the billionaire decides to suspend the certification system for a few weeks.
November 20, 2022: Damien Viel leaves the nest
The general director of Twitter France announces that he is leaving his position. In his tweet he does not specify if this departure is his decision or if he was expelled.
November 24, 2022: welcome suspended accounts!
Elon Musk announces that accounts suspended before his arrival will be reinstated on the platform. “The people have spoken, the amnesty begins next week,” the head of the social network tweeted. A controversial amnesty since it deals with accounts that are sometimes suspended for having held hate speech.
November 29: War between Elon Musk and Apple
Apple is one of the companies that has stopped its payment communication on Twitter. Which has a knack for disliking Elon Musk, who also lashes out at threats from Tim Cook’s brand to remove Twitter from his app store.
The tax charged by application stores (AppStore and Google Play Store) on purchases made within an application downloaded through this software is not to Elon Musk’s liking either. This also explains the price difference between Twitter Blue subscriptions taken on smartphones and those taken on the web version.
December 12, 2022: Cost cutting galore
With revenues dwindling, Twitter is forced to cut costs even further and get rid of everything that is no longer needed (both object and human). To do this, the company changed the menus in the dining room and did so at a charge, eliminated benefits in kind (daycare, Internet at home, training, etc.) and finished off its office furniture.
November 13, 2022: dissolution of the Trust and Security Council
Elon Musk decides to dismantle the trust and safety council, which intervened in particular on issues of child protection and suicide prevention.
December 16, 2022: journalists persona non grata
Dissatisfied with the coverage that journalists were doing on his Twitter epic, Elon Musk decided to suspend several journalist accounts from CNN, the New York Times or the Washington Post. In short, a unidirectional freedom of expression. But with the clamor that this announcement caused, the head of Twitter decides to return a few hours later restoring the various accounts.
January 2, 2023: Deadbeat Musk
The owner of the Hartford Building, which houses the Twitter premises in San Francisco, files a complaint against the social network. He is claiming more than $136,000 in unpaid rent.
January 18, 2023: 40% drop in revenue
With the flight of advertisers booming since the arrival of Elon Musk, Twitter has seen its revenue fall by 40%. More than 500 companies have thus put an end to ads on the social network.
February 27, 2022: The purge continues
No one is safe with Elon Musk: not even those responsible for turning Twitter upside down. The entire team responsible for improving the company’s finances, including Esther Crawford, the product manager behind Twitter Blue, has walked out.
March 26, 2023: Twitter at half price
Less than six months after the official acquisition, Elon Musk estimates that Twitter is worth $20 billion, less than half its acquisition price ($44 billion). The billionaire justifies this fall by the financial difficulties of the group, but according to him, a financial equilibrium is possible “in the second quarter of 2023”.
April 11, 2023: The Elders Strike Back
Parag Agrawal, Vijaya Gadde and Ned Segal, executives fired with the arrival of Elon Musk, decide to file a class action complaint against Twitter. They demand more than a million dollars, in compensation for the expenses incurred in the judicial processes of the shareholders and the authorities.
April 20, 2023: Twitter Blue Certification Chaos
Elon Musk decides to officially put an end to the blue ticks of yesteryear, those obtained by personalities, journalists and the media before the Musk era. The reason: According to the head of Twitter, these badges were obtained corruptly. Now, only Twitter Blue subscribers can benefit from the famous blue color mark.
Source: BFM TV
