How Elon Musk came to own Twitter: A timeline of the Tesla CEO's takeover
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How Elon Musk came to own Twitter: A timeline of the Tesla CEO's takeover
The $44 billion takeover of Twitter by Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has created a series of chaotic events for the social media platform.
Musk first expressed interest in acquiring the company in January 2022, citing a desire to restore free speech.
Since then, the company has had a volatile year, with Musk facing off against Twitter in a lawsuit before finally taking control of the platform. By October, the self-anointed "Chief Twit" made plans to fire 75% of Twitter’s workforce.
Here's a comprehensive look at one of the biggest love-hate business stories of the year:
Early signs of interest
Musk first joined Twitter in June 2009 and has amassed over 115 million followers since then.
Over the years, his tweets have created news headlines and even caused moves in stocks and the price of bitcoin.
Purchasing the app wasn’t in the picture until 2017 when a user asked Musk to buy Twitter, and he replied: “How much is it?”
While Musk has often tweeted about Twitter in various contexts over the past 13 years, the topics of his tweets began shifting in 2020 from memes and his company Tesla toward critiques about Twitter's algorithm, bot accounts, and how it's affected “public discourse.”
Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.
What should be done? https://t.co/aPS9ycji37— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2022
By January 2022, Musk started buying shares of Twitter. Two months later, he posed a question to his followers: "Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?"
Musk openly questioned how the free speech rules at the “public town square” that is Twitter were hurting democracy and publicly showed interest in building a new but similar platform. He also stated that if he were to acquire the company, he would reverse the Twitter ban on former President Donald Trump, as it was a “morally bad decision” in Musk’s eyes. (Trump was banned from Twitter following the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.)
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