Enlarge image
Elon Musk and his Twitter profile: the takeover collapsed
Photo: OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP
Elon Musk is tired: The high-tech billionaire has canceled the agreement to buy the short message service Twitter.
The takeover drama has been going on for months – and could now end up in court.
A chronology of events?
March 27, 2022: A dedicated platform?
Elon Musk's Twitter activities are notorious.
At the end of March, the boss of the electric car manufacturer Tesla had more than 79 million followers, whom he regularly entertained with provocative statements.
Now the billionaire is reportedly considering starting his own social media platform.
"I'm seriously considering it," Musk wrote on Twitter.
He was responding to a user's question.
Musk had previously expressed criticism on Twitter.
The company is undermining democracy by not adhering to the principles of freedom of expression, the Tesla boss claims.
April 4, 2022: Musk buys Twitter stock
Musk apparently discards the idea of his own social media platform - and takes care of Twitter.
Musk announced in a stock market document that he had bought 73.5 million Twitter shares for almost $2.9 billion.
That corresponds to a share of 9.2 percent and makes the richest person in the world the largest Twitter shareholder.
The Twitter share makes a jump in price, the course increases by around 25 percent.
April 5, 2022: Musk is to join the board of directors
Twitter boss Parag Agrawal announces that Musk will join the board of directors of the short message service.
Musk believes in the platform and is also a harsh critic, writes Agrawal.
This is "exactly what we need" for Twitter to become stronger in the long run.
April 9, 2022: "Is Twitter Dying?"
Musk worries about how well Twitter works.
He provocatively asks: "Is Twitter dying?" To justify it, he refers to users like pop singer Justin Bieber, who have many followers but rarely tweet.
April 10, 2022: Musk not on the board of directors after all
Then he doesn't want to.
Twitter boss Agrawal announces that Musk has decided against a seat on the board of directors.
"I think that's for the best," adds the Twitter boss: "Elon is our largest shareholder and we will remain open to his involvement."
April 13, 2022: Musk launches takeover attempt
Suddenly, Musk starts an attempt at a takeover: he wants to buy all the shares in Twitter at a price of $54.20 each and take the online platform off the stock exchange.
This emerges from documents for the US supervisory authorities.
Musk writes that the price is his final offer.
If he fails with the takeover attempt, he will have to reconsider his commitment to Twitter.
April 15, 2022. Twitter fights back
Twitter is taking action to resist a takeover.
The board of directors approves a plan that strengthens the rights of current shareholders, the US company announces.
This plan provides that other shareholders can buy additional shares cheaply if a buyer exceeds the 15 percent mark.
April 25, 2022: Success in negotiations
According to reports, Twitter is now negotiating a takeover with Musk – apparently under pressure from its own shareholders.
Hours later, the agreement was reached: the high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk bought the short message service Twitter for around 44 billion dollars (almost 41 billion euros).
According to Twitter, Musk will pay $54.20 per share.
Now it's up to the company's shareholders to accept the offer.
Musk promises he wants to make Twitter "better than ever."
And he writes: "I hope that even my worst critics stay on Twitter, because that's what free speech means."
April 28, 2022: Twitter announces user growth
Twitter announces that before Musk's takeover attack, it had seen its strongest growth in user numbers in years.
The online service had 229 million daily active users in the first quarter, who see advertising in its apps or the web version.
That was an increase of a good 14 million within three months, according to published figures.
May 4, 2022: A joke
Musk jokes he wants to buy Coca-Cola.
"Next I'll buy Coca-Cola and put cocaine back in," he writes.
It is the second most liked tweet in Twitter history.
May 4, 2022: Fee Idea
Musk is concerned about the future of Twitter - and is considering a fee for certain users.
"Twitter will always be free for personal users, but there may be a small fee for commercial/government users," he tweeted.
May 5, 2022: Musk raises funds
The deal is becoming more and more concrete.
Musk has secured more than $7 billion in commitments from investors for the proposed acquisition.
According to an IPO filed by Musk, 19 investors have committed to equity investments totaling $7.14 billion.
Among them is the founder of software giant Oracle, Larry Ellison, who wants to contribute $1 billion.
May 10, 2022: Trump is said to be back
Now he's announcing what many feared: Musk says he wants former US President Donald Trump to return to Twitter.
"I would lift the ban," Musk said in a video interview at a Financial Times event.
Musk says the decision to ban Trump was "morally wrong and just plain stupid."
Twitter permanently suspended Trump's account after he expressed sympathy for his supporters who stormed the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021.
May 13, 2022: Takeover suspended
Musk pulls the brakes.
He is temporarily suspending the Twitter purchase because he first wants to wait for calculations that accounts for which there are no real users actually account for less than five percent, writes the Tesla boss on Twitter.
The short message service had published this estimate a few days earlier.
May 16, 2022: Musk haggles
In the struggle for the Twitter deal, Musk makes people sit up and take notice with statements about a possibly lower price.
An agreement on a lower bid is "not out of the question," he says in a video interview.
Twitter shares ended the day down about eight percent in US trading at $37.38.
That's a far cry from the $54.20 a share Musk has previously offered Twitter shareholders.
He also bites into the accusation that the online service gives too low a number of fake accounts.
Twitter boss Parag Agrawal writes that the number is "well below five percent" of the 229 million users.
June 6, 2022: allegations against Twitter
Musk accuses Twitter of breaching the agreed terms for the multi-billion dollar takeover.
In a letter from his lawyers, it is said that Twitter refuses to release data requested by the entrepreneur about spam and fake user accounts on the platform.
Because Twitter "clearly violated" its obligations, Musk reserves the right to call off the takeover project.
Observers interpret this as an attempt to depress the price.
Twitter shares fell 6.3 percent premarket in New York.
June 17, 2022: Musk's plans
He's haggling over the price and terms, but apparently has big plans in store for Twitter.
In a video conference with Twitter employees, Musk states that the goal is to increase the number of users of the online service.
He's aiming for "at least a billion people on Twitter," Musk says.
At the time, the online service had 229 million users.
July 8, 2022: The big bang
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has canceled his agreement to buy Twitter.
As a reason, his lawyers refer to allegedly insufficient information on the number of fake accounts.
Twitter shares fell more than 6 percent in after-hours trading after the announcement.
Twitter announces that it wants to force Musk to take over the short message service in court.
And now?
The legal aftermath could be lengthy and expensive.
Whether Musk can be forced to take over Twitter remains to be seen.
However, Twitter should at least try to obtain from Musk the contractual penalty of up to one billion dollars provided for in the event of a breach of the agreement.
ptz/AFP
