Elon Musk’s tumultuous negotiations to purchase Twitter that began in April have been a made-for-TV-drama from the very starting.
Simply weeks after Musk put in his supply — when tech inventory costs, together with Twitter’s, started quickly falling — he tried to get out of the deal. Twitter sued. Then, earlier this month, Musk modified his thoughts once more, saying he truly needs to purchase the corporate in any case, simply in time to delay trial proceedings with the social media firm.
Now, Musk and Twitter have till October 28 to type out in the event that they’re truly going to succeed in an settlement, or find yourself again in court docket.
Musk is the world’s richest man who’s already busy sufficient constructing rockets, electrical automobiles, and underground tunnels. So there’s good motive why he might not need to repair Twitter’s many difficult points round political speech, content material moderation, and spam. To not point out, he’ll must discover a solution to make Twitter — which has struggled to be persistently worthwhile — truly earn more cash. Up to now, his plans are reportedly to chop Twitter’s workers by 75 p.c to chop prices and to show Twitter right into a “superapp” known as “X” that may be used for extra than simply communication.
Making issues extra difficult, the Biden administration is reportedly contemplating a nationwide safety assessment of the deal due to Musk’s latest tweets in favor of the Russian authorities, and his reliance on overseas traders to fund his supply.
Whether or not the deal ever closes or not, Musk’s bid to purchase Twitter is one other reminder of the immense energy of billionaires like Musk, and the way a few of them appear to have an curiosity in controlling highly effective platforms of speech — for the appropriate value.
—Shirin Ghaffary, senior correspondant, Recode
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