After months of anticipation due to the biggest acquisition of the year, billionaire Elon Musk finally seized control of Twitter on Thursday. In his first action as the leader of one of the most well-known social networking sites in the world, Musk is said to have fired Twitter’s CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and head of law and policy Vijaya Gadde. There have been numerous scandals since Musk started purchasing Twitter stock in January of this year, from Musk pulling out of the agreement to the legal dispute with Twitter.
Here is a chronology of what happened:
On March 26, Musk claimed he was “seriously thinking” about creating a Twitter rival, raising concerns about the platform’s dedication to “free expression” and whether it was hurting democracy. Additionally, he had discreetly gotten in touch with Jack Dorsey, one of the co-founders of Twitter.
On March 27, Elon Musk started talking to the CEO and board members of Twitter about perhaps joining the board. In later regulatory filings, it was revealed that he had also considered taking Twitter private or founding a rival. Musk began talking to Twitter’s CEO and board members about perhaps joining the board after privately telling them about his expanding investment in the firm. According to media reports, Musk also discusses making Twitter private or launching a rival.
April 4: According to a regulatory filing, Musk quickly overtook existing Twitter shareholders by acquiring a 9 percent ownership (73.5 million shares) for a total cost of around $3 billion.
On April 5, Musk received a seat on Twitter’s board of directors in exchange for not acquiring more than 14.9% of the company’s stock.
On April 9, Elon Musk publicly posted, “Is Twitter dying?,” which soured the relationship between Musk and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal. Agrawal responded by calling the criticism unhelpful.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal revealed on April 11 that Musk would not be joining the board after all.
Twitter disclosed in a regulatory filing dated April 14 that Musk has made a $44 billion purchase bid for the firm.
Musk secured $46.5 billion in financing on April 21 to purchase Twitter.
Elon Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion and take the business private on April 25. Because Twitter, in the billionaire’s opinion, “is not living up to its potential as a forum for free speech,” he claimed he intended to acquire and privatize the social media site.
On April 29, Musk sold shares of Tesla valued about $8.5 billion to help pay for the purchase of Twitter.
On May 5, Musk increased the value of his bid to acquire Twitter with pledges totaling more than $7 billion from a range of investors.
Following the violence at the US Capitol on May 10, Elon Musk declared that he would lift the suspension of former US President Donald Trump’s Twitter account.
Musk announced on May 13 that his purchase of Twitter is “temporarily on hold.”
Twitter sued Musk on July 12 and demanded that he complete the transaction. Musk filed an answer.
The Musk-Twitter legal issue will go to trial in October, according to a Delaware judge on July 19.
On August 23, a former Twitter security chief said that the business had “misled regulators about its inadequate cybersecurity defenses” and had failed to take action against phony accounts that disseminated false information. In order to cancel his Twitter arrangement, Musk claimed the whistleblower as a new justification.
On October 5, Musk made the offer to carry out his initial plan to purchase Twitter for $44 billion.
October 6: A Delaware judge postponed the trial scheduled for October 17 until November and granted the parties until October 28 to come to a settlement.
October 20: According to reports, Musk intended to fire 75% of the workforce.
October 26: Musk announced the agreement by posting a video of himself walking into Twitter’s offices while carrying a kitchen sink. He changed the bio on his Twitter account to read “Chief Twit.”
On October 27, Musk purportedly took control of Twitter and removed its general counsel, chief financial officer, and CEO.
