Elon Musk He has an unquestionable ability to leave you speechless. In just one week, the owner of Tesla y Starlink, has shown the first prototype of Optimus, that futuristic robot with which he intends to change the world, and agreed to go ahead with the purchase of the Twitter social network. The one he agreed to pay for 4$4 billion last April for later, in July, backing out of the deal and ending up receiving a lawsuit from the social network.
The (new) decision of the businessman comes just a week before the trial began that, for five days, was going to confront him with the tycoon. During the development of it, the executive was going to have to demonstrate that, indeed, Twitter had not been transparent with him regarding the number of fake accounts and ‘spam’ bots that operate within it. It should be remembered that the social network figures the prevalence of these accounts below 5%while Musk points out that the number, according to his preliminary calculations, would be much higher.
In a statement shared with ABC, Twitter sources maintain that the company’s plan is to maintain the price of $54.20 per share that the tycoon agreed to pay last spring for control of the ‘app’. In principle, the agreement, which must be closed before April 2023 as signed by both parties, will go ahead without undergoing any changes. This is also recognized by Musk in a document shared with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The tycoon, therefore, will continue to have to pay the same for the ‘app’ and will not obtain any advantage. Bearing this in mind, What has led you to change your mind?
Bad prospects for the trial
Entering Musk’s mind is an impossible task. However, the truth is that most social network experts saw Twitter as the main favorite in the face of the quick trial that, in principle, was going to pit him against the tycoon in the state of Delaware for five days.
The case was going to be instructed by the judge Kathleen McCormick. According to ‘The New York Times’, in recent years, the courts of this state often force the parties to go ahead with the agreed deals. There is only one precedent, from 2017, in which the purchase of a pharmaceutical company was annulled. McCormick has already called “absurdly broad” Twitter requests for data from Musk’s lawyers during the buildup to the case.
“This Musk backtracking seems serious. We hope that, finally, the purchase of Twitter is completed, “explains Ferran Lalueza, an expert in social networks and professor of Communication at the Open University of Catalonia, in conversation with ABC. The teacher points out that, predictably, the slim prospects for victory during the trial may have been largely to blame for the employer’s new swerve.
«If in the end he was going to have to stay with Twitter, it had better be with a muscular social network -remember that the news has caused the ‘app’ to shoot up in the stock market- than with a vilified and weak platform. He has played the business vision and has realized that continuing with the acquisition is the most desirable, “says Lalueza.
A hybrid between WeChat and TikTok
Be that as it may, for the moment, Musk has not shared any information about the reasons that have led him to restart the acquisition of the social network. The businessman has only published a tweet in which he states that buying Twitter is the first step to create “X, the application for everything”, something with which he seems to refer to the popular Chinese multipurpose ‘app’ WeChat.
Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2022
This is not the first time that the executive has referred to this platform when referring to his future plans for Twitter. A few months ago, in a conference with workers from the social network, Musk pointed out that in China, “you basically live on WeChat”, since the site has all kinds of features, such as WhatsApp-type messaging. “If we can recreate that with Twitter, we will be a huge success.” Taking this into account, it is foreseeable that the site of the little bird will receive a multitude of new tools in the future, including money transfers.
Musk hopes that, thanks to the news, the ‘app’, Twitter exceeds the barrier of 1,000 million active users -currently around 300- and «contribute to achieving a better and lasting civilization in which we better understand the nature of reality». To increase the popularity of Twitter, the tycoon also looks at TikTokespecially in its algorithm, possibly the best in the business when it comes to keeping the user for as long as possible with their eyes glued to the screen.