Unanswered questions of Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter

Board Twitter has accepted the offer to buy back worth $44 billion from billionaire Elon Musk. It is not clear what the richest person on the planet intends to do with this social networking platform. Under the agreement, Mr. Musk will pay $54.2 per share in cash to Twitter.

Billionaire Elon Musk (Image: Bloomberg)

In a statement on April 25, Twitter said that Musk will spend $ 21 billion in cash and $ 25.5 billion in credit to buy the company. According to CNBC, many questions about the future of Twitter remain open. Users, employees, investors and politicians all want to know more about this deal.

Who will lead the company?

One of the biggest questions facing Twitter is who Musk will appoint as its new CEO. The current CEO, Parag Agrawal, has just run the company five months after succeeding co-founder Jack Dorsey. When Musk bought back a 9% stake in Twitter and declined to join the Board, Mr Agrawal warned of “distraction ahead”. CNBC predicts that the couple is unlikely to be together in the future.

Who will be on the Board of Directors?

The board, led by Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, adopted the tactic of “drinking poison” to avoid a “hostile takeover” from Musk. However, in the end, Twitter still agreed to sell itself to the CEO of Tesla.

Mr. Musk has a long list of candidates to support on his journey with Twitter. The billionaire and Dorsey seem to be a match.

To what extent will Musk be in control?

According to Twitter, the company was acquired by a legal entity wholly owned by Mr. Musk. However, it is not clear how far the billionaire will control Twitter. Currently, Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, not to mention startups Neuralink and The Boring Company.

Will he follow in the footsteps of Jeff Bezos with The Washington Post and authorize an independent team to run the company? Or will directly manage Twitter?

What will Twitter be like?

Elon Musk often mobilizes community opinions on Twitter, for example asking his 83 million followers if they want Twitter to add an “edit” button. Do you make decisions based on what users want?

In a press release, Elon Musk affirmed that free speech is an important component of democracy and Twitter is a “digital square” where issues of the future of humanity are debated. He wants to make Twitter better with new features, make the algorithm open source, beat spam bots…

What is the Tesla CEO’s definition of free speech? In a tweet on April 25, he wrote: “I hope even my worst criticism stays on Twitter because that’s what free speech means.”

Do you let people stay on Twitter? Content management is essential when you want to keep a social network from becoming a “wild fire”.

Is Mr. Trump back?

The former US President was banned by Twitter in early 2021 after the Capitol Hill riots. Mr. Musk expressed his disapproval of Twitter’s censorship policy.

Answering CNBC on April 25, Donald Trump confirmed that he would not return to Twitter, even if Elon Musk overturned the ban, due to frustration with the way Twitter treated him.

The fate of the workers?

In taking Twitter from public to private, Musk had to define a new salary structure. Stock bonuses are no longer valid. Can they be replaced by another form?

The technology industry is in a state of serious “brain drain”. Employers are under more pressure than ever to retain talent. Under current conditions, are employees engaged with Twitter, and is there a reason for newcomers to apply? Who will Musk keep? If you remove content management, a lot of the staff is no longer important.

Tesla investors

Those hoping for Tesla to hit the trillion-dollar market cap will have to rely on Elon Musk’s magic. Right now, though, he had too many things to take care of. This somewhat worries shareholders, reflected in Tesla’s share price in recent days. Shares of the electric car company fell slightly on April 25 and have fallen 2.3% since Musk announced his intention to buy Twitter on April 14.

Du Lam (According to CNBC)