Yesterday, Some Twitter Shareholders Have Declared War to Elon Musk by taking him to court. But the richest man in the world refuses the conflict. Instead, he draws his most powerful weapon: money. His goal: to conquer Twitter once and for all. His proposal: buy all shares of the social network for $54.20 per share, or $43.4 billion (EUR 39.77 billion) in total. A bid that is $6.7 billion higher than Twitter’s current capitalization. †This is my best offer and my last offer‘, he explains in the official document that he sent on Thursday, April 14 to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US stock exchange agent.
Elon Musk drops the mask
At the same time, Elon Musk wants to take Twitter off the stock exchange. If current management refuses, the all-powerful Tesla and Space X boss warns that he “will reconsider its position as shareholder†
In pre-market electronic trading, the stock rose 12.24% to $51.5. Since Monday, April 4, when Elon Musk revealed that he had bought 9.2% of the shares of the social network, the value of the promotion has increased by 17%, from $39.31 to $45.85 on Wednesday, April 13. at gate.
What will Twitter’s management and shareholders do, which Elon Musk hopes to convince by the added value he offers them? Twitter said it had received a statement “the unsolicited and non-binding offerby Elon Musk, stating that he was “the”examine carefully“, for “determine the course of action it believes is in the best interest of the company and all of Twitter’s shareholders†
With this offer, Elon Musk finally refuses to play the activist shareholder, preferring to immediately take off the mask by claiming absolute control over Twitter.
For years, the billionaire criticized the moderation policy of the social network, of which he is also one of the most followed users in the world, with 81 million “followers”, and also one of the most active. Buying Twitter would thus enable him to shape this world-renowned platform, which claims 212 million monetized users per day, and which he believes damages free speech, which is also a mantra of Donald Trump’s supporters in the United States. United States.
Ten Surreal Days
Elon Musk’s blitzkrieg on Twitter only started ten days ago. Monday 4 April, Elon Musk announced to everyone’s surprise that it had acquired 9.2% of the social network’s capital, for nearly $2.9 billion, becoming the largest shareholder. In his letter to the SEC, he indicated that he had no intention of becoming an activist shareholder. But it is impossible to ignore the fact that since January, which corresponds to the purchase of his first Twitter shares, the erratic entrepreneur has multiplied criticism of the social network, accusing it of muzzling free speech and openly criticizing it. on its management by Parag Agrawal, the CEO since November last year and the sideline of its founder and emblematic CEO, Jack Dorsey.
the gallery I then wondered †Would Elon Musk rather invest in a well-known social network, despite growth challenges, and thus “influence” the direction of an established company and platform, rather than create one from scratch?”
Elon Musk did not wait long to confirm his interventionist will. That same evening he launched his first offensive : A poll to find out if users want to be able to edit their tweets afterwards. harmless? Not really. Because if it is an old and popular request among Twitter users who want to be able to correct their mistakes when writing in a hurry. Jack Dorsey’s former management vehemently opposed it because of the potential abuses related to online harassment or misinformation. For example, the founder stated in 2020 that the button “edit” would not see “probably never” day.
the board trap
Tuesday, April 5, the day after the announcement of Elon Musk’s capital increase, Twitter offered its new first shareholder — also accused of possible price manipulation by the financial market agent for comments on the social network — a seat on the company’s board of directors. .
CEO Parag Agrawal made the announcement in a tweet: “I am pleased to announce that we are appointing Elon Musk to the board of directors! Through discussions with Elon over the past few weeks, it had become clear that he would be of great value to our board.” he explained† Elon Musk then replied, still in public: “I look forward to working with Parag and the Twitter Board to make major improvements to Twitter in the coming months!”
But was it a win for Elon Musk and a bid for Parag Agrawal, or was it a poisoned gift to curb the aggressiveness of the new prime shareholder? Because by accepting a position on the board of directors until 2024, Elon Musk has thus prevented him from growing up to more than 14.9% of the capital of the company. He certainly could have tried to influence the company’s strategy through the board of directors – and his strike power, thanks to his 80 million followers, is real – but the majority of him would still have had to validate his requests.
A weekend full of provocative messages
For a few days, Elon Musk seemed to choose the option of pressuring the board of directors by massively “trolling” the social network. On Thursday, he published a “meme” featuring a famous photo showing him holding a joint in a halo of smoke, with the caption: “lhe’s going to tear next Twitter boardHe also agreed to meet Twitter employees for a Q&A session, pretending he was the company’s new leader.
He went even further on Saturday. †Is Twitter dying?he asked, illustrating his point by the fact that most of the social network’s “super accounts” — those with the most subscribers like Barack Obama, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Lady Gaga… — rarely post content.
Even more “troll”, Elon Musk published two other tweets over the weekend, which must have shoved Parag Agrawal down his throat. The first was a poll, with the options “yes” or “of course” to the question “Should the ‘w’ be removed from Twitter?“. In the second he suggested to “turn the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco into a shelter for the homeless“, because “no one is going† [sic]†
open war
And finally, Elon Musk has – again – changed his mind. Monday 11 April he refused his seat on the board of directors† And not in the most elegant way: according to a message from CEO Parag Agrawal, the world’s richest man according to Forbes just stood up to the leaders when he publicly hinted that he was going to sit down.
†Elon’s appointment to the board was to take effect on April 9, but Elon told us the same day that he would not be joining.Agrawal wrote, before adding: †Elon is our largest shareholder and we remain open to his ideas“. An hour after the CEO’s message, the concerned director was satisfied to respond by publishing the emoji “giggle“…without further comment.
On Tuesday 12 April, some shareholders dared to declare war on him by filing a complaint with the financial market regulator. Their complaint: They accused Elon Musk of announcing the SEC’s crossing of the 5% threshold 10 days late, causing financial harm to shareholders who sold their shares during this time, and allowing Musk to proceed further. climb to capital by taking advantage of the stock’s low value. There is no doubt that this proposal to take over Twitter should enable these shareholders, if they take over, to get back on their feet.
