May it lastly be coming to an finish – and will we lastly get to see what comes subsequent for Twitter underneath Elon Musk?
In line with a brand new report from Bloomberg, Musk has at present knowledgeable banks which might be serving to to fund his $44 billion Twitter acquisition that he plans to shut the deal by this Friday, ending months of damaging backwards and forwards for the corporate.
As per Bloomberg:
“The banks, that are offering $13 billion of debt financing, have completed placing collectively the ultimate credit score settlement and are within the technique of signing the documentation, one of many final steps earlier than truly sending the money to Musk, stated the folks, who requested to not be named discussing a personal transaction.”
That would carry an in depth to 6 months of an more and more ugly, and public takeover battle – which was largely, actually, simply Musk combating in opposition to himself.
Musk initially tendered his $44 billion provide for the app again in Could, earlier than reneging on that preliminary deal, then launching authorized motion to cease himself from having to pay up. That lastly got here to an finish lately with Musk agreeing to pay – though he does suppose that he’s now considerably overpaying for the app.
Although once more, the rationale that he’s overpaying is basically as a result of he’s raised vital doubts about Twitter’s inner workings, and the numbers it experiences to the market, with Musk’s legal professionals accusing Twitter’s exec staff of mendacity about many components of the platform’s efficiency, which has successfully tanked the inventory.
However by no means worry – in keeping with Musk, he has a plan, and a technique to take Twitter from a ‘languishing’ asset to a social media powerhouse.
Although nobody has any clue what that plan is.
Musk has alluded to offering new subscription choices, taking the corporate non-public, eliminating bots, open-sourcing feed algorithms, and numerous different methods to make Twitter nice once more.
Extra lately, Musk has additionally hinted at new video components, together with new monetization choices for anybody who uploads a video to the app. Twitter does have already got each pre and mid-roll video advert choices for monetization, however they’re solely out there to pick publishing companions, and plainly Musk will look to increase this, which may additionally align along with his earlier feedback round making the app ‘extra like TikTok’. Like each different social platform at current.
However it’s his method to ‘free speech’, and what Twitter could quickly enable in consequence, that has folks essentially the most involved.
Final week, Musk tweeted out memes during which he joked about becoming a member of forces with right-wing social apps Parler and Reality Social, and whereas they’re simply jokes, Musk’s precise statements round his stance on such are regarding.
Twitter must be as broadly inclusive as potential, serving as a good discussion board for energetic, even when often rancorous, debate between broadly divergent beliefs.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 25, 2022
The priority right here is that, underneath Musk, Twitter will quickly enable a few of the worst form of hate speech within the app, which isn’t in opposition to the regulation, as such, however shouldn’t be given amplification by way of social platforms.
Which appears to be a lesson that each platform has discovered over the previous few years. However Elon, at the very least proper now, appears to disagree.
Mix that with the suggestion that Musk goes to lower 75% of Twitter workers – which is probably going an exaggeration, however nonetheless, it does appear to mirror his normal mindset within the takeover – and Twitter may find yourself getting very messy, very quick.
Definitely, that’s what Twitter’s present workers suppose. In an open letter to Musk, in response to the experiences of huge cuts incoming, Twitter workers have stated that such cuts:
“…will harm Twitter’s potential to serve the general public dialog. A menace of this magnitude is reckless, undermines our customers’ and clients’ belief in our platform, and is a clear act of employee intimidation.”
That’s unlikely to sway Musk’s pondering, however it does spotlight the office surroundings that Musk might be about to tackle, which, once more, factors to potential uncertainty for the app.
Add to this the truth that a lot of Twitter’s prime workers have already jumped ship, and new experiences that Twitter’s struggling to maintain its most energetic customers, and it’s not precisely wanting like a victory parade shall be awaiting Musk as he heads into Twitter HQ for the primary time.
However once more, Elon says that he has a plan. And when the particular person making such a declare has defied the chances so many instances prior to now, you possibly can’t dismiss that out of hand.
It appears like we’ll quickly discover out – there might be extra twists to return but, however it does seem to be the primary stage of the saga is about to return to an finish.
