Following up on my previous thoughts on Twitter, Musk lined up financing from Morgan Stanley and got the deal done at a price that obviously included 420 in some fashion:
Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Elon Musk, for $54.20 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion. Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company.
Reuters
The supposed reaction inside of Twitter, the company, was humorous:
My thoughts on Twitter at this point are simple and unoriginal:
- While Musk is a flawed human with an imperfect record on free speech, I think he’s pushing social media in the right direction, that is an attempt to push towards free speech and away from a censored precedent
- While I think this move towards free speech is good, I believe that a forum like Twitter shouldn’t be owned by one person. I would like to see this eventually redistributed to its stakeholders (perhaps via Web3 infrastructure)
Many believe Twitter’s flaws can be fixed with Musk’s magic, but I do believe that the service’s intersection with culture and politics make it a difficult and novel problem versus Musk’s prior ventures. I don’t believe much will change in the near term post-close, and think his ownership will be a lightning rod during the presidential election (or other divisive events that come up).
Good luck and godspeed.