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Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover

saga: a timeline of tweets

World’s richest person’s attempt to buy social

media company has been anything but smooth

© FT montage/EPA-EFE

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FT reporters OCTOBER 28 2022

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There has never been a corporate takeover saga

quite like it: where the acquisition target is also
the deal’s battleground.

When the world’s richest person — and self-

styled “memelord” — Elon Musk took a minority
stake in Twitter in March, even he could not have
imagined how quickly the situation would
escalate.

Most deals are thrashed out behind closed doors.

Musk’s $44bn bid for Twitter could not have
been more public. First, the billionaire taunted
the company from his 108mn follower profile on
the site. Then, the legal scrap over his attempt to
back out produced a vast trove of Musk’s private
messages from a who’s who of Silicon Valley
investors, executives and advisers.

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For anyone who has lost track of the sniping,

whistleblowing, broken promises, empty threats
and memes during the past few months, here is a
tweet-by-tweet timeline of how the battle for the
internet’s public square blew up.

MARCH 14 2022
Unbeknown to the company, Elon Musk quietly
acquires a 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter

MARCH 25
Musk posts a Twitter poll regarding free speech on
the platform

Elon Musk
@elonmusk · Follow

Free speech is essential to a

functioning democracy.

Do you believe Twitter

rigorously adheres to this
principle?
Yes 29.6%

No 70.4%

2,035,924 votes · Final results

1:04 PM · Mar 25, 2022

Read the full conversation on Twitter

183.2K Reply Share

Read 36K replies

APRIL 4
In a filing to the US financial regulator, Musk is
revealed as Twitter’s largest shareholder

Elon Musk
@elonmusk · Follow

Oh hi lol
9:34 PM · Apr 4, 2022

920.1K Reply Share

Read 66.9K replies

APRIL 5
Within a day of disclosing his stake, Musk is offered
— and accepts — a seat on Twitter’s board. Chief
executive Parag Agrawal says he is “excited” at the
appointment

jack
@jack · Follow

I’m really happy Elon is joining the

Twitter board! He cares deeply about
our world and Twitter’s role in it.

Parag and Elon both lead with their

hearts, and they will be an incredible
team.

Parag Agrawal @paraga

I’m excited to share that we’re appointing
@elonmusk to our board! Through
conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it
became clear to us that he would bring
great value to our Board.

6:36 PM · Apr 5, 2022

104.8K Reply Share

Read 4.4K replies

APRIL 11
Musk decides against joining Twitter’s board, in a
move that fuelled speculation he would mount a
hostile takeover. Agrawal says Twitter remains open
to Musk’s “input”

Parag Agrawal
@paraga · Follow

Elon has decided not to join our

board. I sent a brief note to the
company, sharing with you all here.

8:43 AM · Apr 11, 2022

101.8K Reply Share

Read 11.9K replies

Elon Musk
@elonmusk · Follow

Most of these “top” accounts

tweet rarely and post very little
content.

Is Twitter dying?

World of Statistics @stats_feed

TOP 10 most followed Twitter
accounts:

1. @BarackObama 131.4M
2. @justinbieber 114.3M
3. @katyperry 108.8M
4. @rihanna 105.9M
5. @Cristiano 98.8M
6. @taylorswift13 90.3M
7. @ladygaga 84.5M
8. @elonmusk 81M
9. @narendramodi 77.7M
10. @TheEllenShow 77.5M

7:02 PM · Apr 9, 2022

Read the full conversation on Twitter

206.5K Reply Share

Read 31.2K replies

APRIL 14
Musk launches hostile bid for Twitter at $44bn
valuation, says he is “not sure” it will succeed

Elon Musk
@elonmusk · Follow

I made an offer
sec.gov/Archives/edgar…
4:53 PM · Apr 14, 2022

Read the full conversation on Twitter

896.8K Reply Share

Read 78.9K replies

APRIL 15
Twitter launches “poison pill” defence to block Musk
takeover

APRIL 21
Musk unveils $46.5bn financing package to fund
Twitter bid, placing him personally on the hook for
$33.5bn, according to Financial Times analysis,
unless he can secure additional outside backing

Elon Musk
@elonmusk · Follow

If our twitter bid succeeds, we

will defeat the spam bots or die
trying!
12:23 AM · Apr 22, 2022

Read the full conversation on Twitter

865.4K Reply Share

Read 33.7K replies

APRIL 25
Twitter accepts Musk’s $44bn takeover offer. Co-
founder and former chief executive Jack Dorsey
publicly backs Musk’s bid, calling him the “singular
solution” to the site’s problems

Elon Musk
@elonmusk · Follow

Yesss!!!

1:13 AM · Apr 26, 2022

2.5M Reply Share

Read 150.4K replies

jack · Apr 26, 2022

@jack · Follow
Replying to @jack
The idea and service is all that matters
to me, and I will do whatever it takes to
protect both. Twitter as a company has
always been my sole issue and my
biggest regret. It has been owned by
Wall Street and the ad model. Taking it
back from Wall Street is the correct first
step.

jack
@jack · Follow

In principle, I don’t believe anyone

should own or run Twitter. It wants to
be a public good at a protocol level,
not a company. Solving for the
problem of it being a company
however, Elon is the singular solution I
trust. I trust his mission to extend the
light of consciousness.
7:33 AM · Apr 26, 2022

73.9K Reply Share

Read 4.7K replies

APRIL 28
In its first quarterly earnings report since news of
the Musk takeover bid, Twitter admits overstating
audience figures for three years

APRIL 29
Musk boosts his cash position ahead of Twitter deal
by selling off $8.5bn in Tesla stock, saying no further
sales were planned

Whole Mars Cat… · Apr 29, 2022

@WholeMarsBlog · Follow
Yup, @elonmusk has been selling
archive.fast-
edgar.com/20220428/ARZDT…

Elon Musk
@elonmusk · Follow

No further TSLA sales planned after

today
6:55 AM · Apr 29, 2022

42.5K Reply Share

Read 3.3K replies

MAY 5
Larry Ellison, Binance and Sequoia all chip in with
financing for Musk’s bid. Binance chief executive
Changpeng Zhao tells the FT his company’s support
is essentially a “blank cheque”

Elon Musk
@elonmusk · Follow

If Twitter acquisition completes,

company will be super focused
on hardcore software
engineering, design, infosec &
server hardware

fortune.com
Job interest in Twitter skyrocketed
more than 250% since Elon Musk …
moved to take over. But current...
8:44 PM · May 6, 2022

Read the full conversation on Twitter

383.7K Reply Share

Read 28.9K replies

MAY 12
Twitter announces hiring freeze and executive
departures, including its head of consumer Kayvon
Beykpour

Kayvon Beykpour · May 12, 2022

@kayvz · Follow
Interrupting my paternity leave to share
some final @twitter-related news: I’m
leaving the company after over 7 years.

Kayvon Beykpour
@kayvz · Follow

The truth is that this isn’t how and

when I imagined leaving Twitter, and
this wasn’t my decision. Parag asked
me to leave after letting me know that
he wants to take the team in a
different direction.
9:55 PM · May 12, 2022

2.9K Reply Share

Read 599 replies

MAY 13
Musk claims Twitter deal “on hold” because of spam
bots and calls on Agrawal to “prove” metrics on
spam and bot accounts

Elon Musk
@elonmusk · Follow

Twitter deal temporarily on hold

pending details supporting
calculation that spam/fake
accounts do indeed represent
less than 5% of users

reuters.com
Twitter estimates spam, fake
accounts comprise less than 5% of…
users -filing
3:14 PM · May 13, 2022

Read the full conversation on Twitter

230.2K Reply Share

Read 25.4K replies

TESLARATI · May 17, 2022

@Teslarati · Follow
Elon Musk may be looking for a better
Twitter deal as $44 billion seems too
high with 20% of users being fake or
spam accounts.
teslarati.com/musk-seeks-twi…

Elon Musk
@elonmusk · Follow

20% fake/spam accounts, while 4

times what Twitter claims, could be
*much* higher.

My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC

filings being accurate.

Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly

refused to show proof of <5%.

This deal cannot move forward until

he does.
1:02 PM · May 17, 2022

105K Reply Share

Read 8.8K replies

JUNE 16
Musk addresses Twitter staff in all-hands meeting,
saying the company needs to “get healthy”

JULY 8
Musk formally announces his intention to back out
of deal. Twitter board chair says the company is still
committed to the agreement, setting up the
prospect of a high-stakes court battle

Bret Taylor
@btaylor · Follow

The Twitter Board is committed to

closing the transaction on the price
and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk
and plans to pursue legal action to
enforce the merger agreement. We
are confident we will prevail in the
Delaware Court of Chancery.
3:21 AM · Jul 9, 2022

32.2K Reply Share

Read 6K replies

JULY 12
Twitter sues Musk and the two parties head for a
showdown in the Delaware Court of Chancery

Bret Taylor
@btaylor · Follow

Twitter has filed a lawsuit in the

Delaware Court of Chancery to hold
Elon Musk accountable to his
contractual obligations.
2:42 AM · Jul 13, 2022

3.3K Reply Share

Read 699 replies

JULY 19
Denying Musk’s request for a delay, Chancellor
Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of
Chancery grants Twitter a speedy trial. Explaining
her decision, she says Twitter was suffering under a
“cloud of uncertainty”

JULY 22
Twitter reports its second-quarter earnings, blaming
Musk and ads slump for revenue that missed Wall
Street expectations

JULY 27
After being instructed by the judge to work it out
between themselves, the parties agree to an October
17 start date for the trial

JULY 29
Musk countersues Twitter over deal, with details of
the challenge kept under seal

AUGUST 4
Twitter responds to Musk’s countersuit claims,
calling them “implausible”

AUGUST 9
Musk sells another $7.5bn in Tesla stock, taking
advantage of a recent rebound in its share price. He
says the sale is necessary to cover the “hopefully
unlikely” event that he needs additional funding
should the Twitter deal be forced to go ahead

Sawyer Merritt · Aug 10, 2022

@SawyerMerritt · Follow
Replying to @SawyerMerritt
@elonmusk are you done selling?

Elon Musk
@elonmusk · Follow

Yes.

In the (hopefully unlikely) event that

Twitter forces this deal to close *and*
some equity partners don’t come
through, it is important to avoid an
emergency sale of Tesla stock.
8:23 AM · Aug 10, 2022

8K Reply Share

Read 705 replies

AUGUST 22
Musk subpoenas Dorsey for any communications
relating to “the impact or effect of false or spam
accounts on Twitter’s business and operations”

AUGUST 23
Former Twitter security boss Peiter “Mudge” Zatko
turns whistleblower, alleging deception on bots and
security, boosting Musk’s case

Elon Musk
@elonmusk · Follow

9:22 PM · Aug 23, 2022

Read the full conversation on Twitter

96.8K Reply Share

Read 7K replies

AUGUST 24
Influential US Senate Judiciary Committee
announces Zatko will testify on September 13 to
discuss potential “security” failures at Twitter

Senator Dick Durbin

@SenatorDurbin · Follow

Mr. Zatko’s allegations of widespread

security failures and foreign state
actor interference at Twitter raise
serious concerns. If these claims are