As of now, you must have known that Elon Musk bought Twitter for $42.2 Billion. $44.2 Billion!! That’s a lot of money. You can literally buy some of the big countries with this much money.
Elon has around 89M followers on Twitter, the same as Donald Trump. Everyone thought that Musk will also get banned from Twitter. But the cards have flipped. First, he became Twitter’s largest shareholder by acquiring the 9.2% stake, and then….
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Why Elon Musk Bought Twitter?
So why does he buy Twitter and what changes he would make to Twitter? It will also create an impact on other social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, etc. Let’s discuss all of these points ahead. Before that, speaking of Twitter, I want you to follow me on Twitter 😊
Follow Us on Twitter – https://twitter.com/AniketKadale3
Earlier Musk used to tweet on Dogecoin, and the Dogecoin surged. This is one of the biggest deals till now that a public company will be converted into a private company. The company was purchased at $44.2 Billion at $54.2%/share which is 38% more than its actual price.
Twitter was banning some accounts that were trying to carry out genuine conversations on the platform. Twitter denied following the rules about privacy that the government set for India. You know Twitter is the biggest platform where some of the major discussions are held and things start trending from Twitter only. Elon Musk is an avid user of Twitter. If you follow him, you know e shares lots of tweets, images, and updates about his companies. He believed that Twitter still has a lot of problems and he wants to make it a much bigger platform by fixing it. He also mentioned that he’s not doing this for money. Instead, he wants to make it happen for the public good, promoting free speech.
3 Reasons that Elon Musk Bought Twitter –
1. Bots and spam accounts
Twitter has a lot of spam accounts because of which random things start trending. It’s a big target to close these accounts for Twitter.
2. Make Twitter Open-Source
Make Twitter Open-Source – If you know a bit of coding you know what open-source is. Basically what happens is, that Google and Facebook, and other major platforms have a system or say algorithm where the AI set some rules. For example, if you mention some specific words on these platforms you will get banned. Twitter also has some similar rules. But the problem is public doesn’t know what these rules are. You never know, when you write something and when you’ll get banned. This algorithm of Twitter is hidden from the public. Musk said that he will make it public so that people can know these guidelines.
3. Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the most important pillar. He wants to make the platform open so that everyone can speak freely and share their opinions. Elon himself is a free speech promoter. SEC which is an American Securities and Exchange Agency has fined about $20M Million to Elon Musk.There are also some other features of Twitter such as the edit button, subscriptions, advertisements, and verification algorithms that will be updated.
Earlier Musk was planning to build his own social media platform from scratch but I think he finds it easier to just buy Twitter 😂.
Before Elon Musk Bought Twitter –
Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter at $54.20 per share, valuing the social media company at $43 Billion, according to a regulatory filing. In a letter to “Brett Taylor”, the chairman of Twitter’s board of directors, Musk said, Twitter has extraordinary potential and I will unlock it. An hour after the story broke, Musk twitted “I made an offer”. Musk’s offer to buy Twitter is the latest in a string of events between the billionaire and the social media sites. It comes just days after he decided not to join Twitter’s board of directors after acquiring a 9.2% stake in the company in March.
Nearly $3 Billion acquisition made Musk Twitter’s largest shareholder until the vanguard group increased its stake and bumped him from the top spot. Once news of Musk’s bid hit Twitter, there were mixed reactions. Elon Musk’s followers and supporters expressed excitement that he might own the social media platform but many more voiced concern at the idea of the reportedly richest person in the world owning Twitter, and adding the company to his numerous business assets. However, Musk said he’s not looking to make money from Twitter. That is, he doesn’t view the acquisition as a financial investment. Instead, he sees it as a service for the public good.
Elon Musk – “My strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive, is extremely important to the future of civilization. I don’t care about the economics at all.”
An avid Twitter user, Musk is also one of the site’s biggest critics. Musk tweeted a poll to his 89M followers in March asking whether users believe Twitter was protecting free speech. He said the poll result, in which roughly 70% of 2M respondents answered ‘no’, will be very important. As part of his original agreement to join the Twitter board, Musk had pledged to cap any investment at 14.9% while serving a 2-year term. With the agreement now scrapped, Musk is free to add a stake.
If Elon Musk acquires Twitter, He says he wants to increase the public trust in the platform by making it a place of inclusivity and true freedom of speech and a necessary feature of any functioning democracy. During an interview at the 2022 Ted Conference in Vancouver, Mask said that he values truth. On April 9th, he shared a tweet – “Truth is the first casualty”. With an image from a YouGov survey showing the most trusted media organizations. Since announcing his stake in Twitter in April, Elon Musk has posted several tweets about what he’d changed in the company and one of which has since been deleted. He asked whether Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters should be turned into a homeless shelter because no one shows up anyway. In another, he asked if Twitter was dying.
As one of Twitter’s largest shareholders Elon already has a lot of power. He can team up with other shareholders and push for any changes he wants to see. He also has a tendency to sway public opinion with his tweets. After tweeting Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin as a form of payment, multiple crypto coins took a dive. When he said Tesla would start accepting Dogecoin for some merchandise, the cryptocurrency surged. He could use that power and influence to try to bring changes to Twitter without buying it.
Changes he would make after buying Twitter –
If he does acquire Twitter, Musk proposed a number of changes he would make to the social media platform, including an edit button, something he told his followers about a few weeks ago. Twitter has been working on Edit features since 2021. Musk’s Edit button will be time-sensitive and also zero out any retweets. Eliminating scam bots and bot armies on Twitter would also be a top priority for Musk. He noted during his interview that they bring down the site’s product value and make it worse for users. Elon Musk said he will also make Twitter’s content moderation practices more transparent. He added that users should know whether tweets are being promoted or deemphasized manually or algorithmically. He cautioned against permanent bans for Twitter advocating for temporary suspensions instead.
Will Twitter be Open-Source?
Musk believes Twitter’s coding structure should be transparent as well. If he purchases Twitter, he said, he would post its open-source data on GitHub, a popular form for coders. So people can access the company’s data, identify flaws, and offer solutions. Musk is an avid Twitter user, with 89M followers. However, he admits he doesn’t really have a strategy for his Twitter account. His tweets are reflections of a stream of consciousness. It’s impressive considering that neither Tesla nor SpaceX, the companies he owns operate a marketing or public relations department. News and Development at both companies are often shared first via Musk’s Twitter account. Musk’s interest in acquiring Twitter is just one in a long line of billionaires increasingly invested in media organizations.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder, and CEO of Meta, formally Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 Billion and WhatsApp in 2014 for $19 Billion. Both acquisitions came under scrutiny from lawmakers and social media users a short time after his TED event interview, Musk tweeted his offer should be put to a shareholder vote. Despite all the attention, some analysts say it’s unlikely Twitter will accept Musk’s offer. A handful of Twitter’s investors think the $43 Billion offer is too low and say the company will likely look around for other buyers. In his letter to the chairman’s board, Musk said that if Twitter reject the offer, He’d reconsider his position as a shareholder in the company.
This is really exciting, now we just have to wait and watch what changes will be made to Twitter.
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