He had the opportunity to make his own offer.
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Presumably will be released here:
https://investor.twitterinc.com/financial-information/financial-releases/default.aspx
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I am totally fuzzy on what happens now that Twitter accepted Musk’s offer? I imagine there will be another series of SEC filings outlining the terms and dates and all that stuff.
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What else was on Elon’s 2022 new year resolution list? Looks like Twitter could not have been the only item there, right?
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Here is the official Tritter press release, “Elon Musk to Acquire Twitter”.
SAN FRANCISCO, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ – 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.
Under the terms of the agreement, Twitter stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter common stock that they own upon closing of the proposed transaction. The purchase price represents a 38% premium to Twitter’s closing stock price on April 1, 2022, which was the last trading day before Mr. Musk disclosed his approximately 9% stake in Twitter.
Bret Taylor, Twitter’s Independent Board Chair, said, “The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing. The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.”
Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO, said, “Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.”
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” said Mr. Musk. “I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”
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This is the Form 8-K [PDF] filed by Twitter with the SEC on 2022-04-25 announcing the acquisition and incorporating the press release.
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Any suggestions for what Jack Dorsey or Prince Alwaleed should buy with the cash they receive?
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As I recall, a few weeks ago, Twitter employees greeted the possibility of Musk ownership with an en masse retreat to refrigerated ‘safe spaces’, lest the snowflakes melt. Having a functional private entity just may require a large in-house snow blowing, lest the new company be sabotaged. Of course, it could be that a majority of current workers are devoted to censorship and de-platforming (aka fake ‘moderating’) and otherwise massaging trends & re-tweets to further the radical/progressive worldview. In that case, their jobs (hopefully) end; costs will drop and profitability improve, while additional viewpoints are finally heard in tweets. Don’t count on me participating, nonetheless.
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The Winner’s Curse – in any competitive situation, the winner is likely to have bid more than the asset was worth. Ed Capen with Atlantic Richfield demonstrated the theoretical basis back in the 1970s, in connection with bidding for Federal oil leases. Of course, Mr. Musk avoided a bidding war, but probably only by making a very generous offer in the first place.
Now for the main question – Will Twitter HQ move to Texas or North Dakota? The answer may depend on the enthusiasm Twitter employees demonstrate for their new owner.
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Greg Abbott has already made a pitch for the Lone Star state.
https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1518693037337194496
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Time to celebrate!
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This is my hypothesis as well - for the acquisition to work in an economic sense, I suspect (imagine) Musk is planning to pull a Coinbase move on the employee base.
(As an aside, despite the hair pulling, howls of protest, and dire predictions, Coinbase weathered the decision to offer severance to those employees whose progressivism came ahead of the company’s mission. Seven months after that letter, in April a year ago, the company went IPO and priced at >$300 per share. As a regulated crypto exchange, its business model hinges on access to and popularity of cryptocurrencies.)
My hypothesis is that Twitter’s main strength is the follower/following relationships that make switching costs so high for its installed user base. Twitter’s weakness are its SJW аппара́тчики, whether internal or self-appointed users. As a private company, it will continue to attract users and create more controversy.
The threat of cloud solution providers literally unplatforming Twitter seems limited as its current infrastructure is a mix of on-prem, Google Cloud Platform, and AWS. Could new entrants gain sufficient momentum in a relatively short time? Only time will tell, but I think the answer is ‘no’ for the same reason alternatives like gab, mastodon, and others have not really caught on (switching “costs”)
Less than a month ago, anyone claiming Musk will successfully lead an arguably uneventful Twitter acquisition would have been met by laughter and derision. Yet here we are. So the $64,000 (not adjusted for inflation) question remains … what exactly is Elon’s plan?
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And just like that, in under 22 days in April, Twitter goes private. The whiplash in San Francisco must be severe…
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Twitter co-founder and former CEO “Homeless Jack” Dorsey has posted an interesting thread on Twitter.
“@paraga” in the last tweet is current Twitter CEO “Tweet Apu” Parag Agrawal, who said in a November, 2020 interview with MIT Technology Review that Twitter should “focus less on thinking about free speech" and “Where our role is particularly emphasized is who can be heard.”
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Highly recommended short video for Jack Dorsey to view and reflect on 
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Where would “Homeless Jack” be without Wall Street?
Where would Wall Street be without Big Tech?
When Twitter goes private, will other public companies follow?
Should we feel sorry for unemployed Wall Streeters ?!?
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As some of us suspected, Twitter well knows their ‘woke’ internal censors, de-platformers and tyrants-in-waiting. After all, they operate at the behest of the current management. Having been betrayed - in their eyes - by that management, they may well act out as if ‘anything goes’. Here’s hoping they are hoist by zer own 'per’tard or jus plain fired (with a zero carbon footprint, naturally). Turn about, after all, is equable play, non?
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The Financial Times has two informative pieces on the Elon/Twitter acquisition
- The first one confirms the breakup fee is capped at $1B and reports on how that is unexpectedly low at ~2.3% compared to the typical 5-6% fees on these deals
- The second story is a “play-by-play” recap of the short courtship leading the agreement announced Monday. It does provide mroe clarify on the role Morgan Stanley played in the process and calls out some interesting points Twitter being overvalued
Could we just be at the end of the beginning, with more to come? If this were a David Mamet screenplay, this is when it would turn out there is a long con in play now that the short con has run its course.
Given Musk had a plan in early 2022, it’s possible (likely?) he would have been hedging his initial purchase to limit exposure. As a for instance, could the lower than expected breakup fee be construed as further evidence for that?
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Project Veritas has posted what is described as leaked audio from the Twitter “all hands” call on 2022-04-25.
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