What is Elon Musk playing with Twitter? The whimsical and elusive American billionaire posted a video on Wednesday October 26 showing him in the premises of the social network, which he must complete the takeover by Friday.
In the short film posted on his own account, the fiery entrepreneur arrives at the reception of what appears to be the company’s headquarters in San Francisco, California, with a sink in his arms, hilarious. He plays on the word sink (“sink”), used in an American phrase he posted on the message accompanying the video.
“I’m going into Twitter headquarters – I’ll let you absorb the information! »Where “Let that sink in” in English, he wrote, on his account. He also renamed himself “Chef Twit” on his profile – tweet meaning ” dumbass “.
Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! https://t.co/D68z4K2wq7
“I met a lot of cool people at Twitter today”, he added some three hours later.
In conflict with the leaders
To end, at his request, the litigation between him and the leaders of the blue bird group, the Delaware judge in charge of the case gave Elon Musk until October 28 to finalize the takeover. The conclusion of the transaction would put an end to seven months of adventures, which have often opposed the boss of Tesla to those of Twitter.
Accusing the company of having lied to him, Elon Musk announced at the beginning of July that he was giving up taking control of the social network – after an acquisition offer of 44 billion dollars (about the same amount in euros) –, a decision that Twitter had challenged in Delaware justice. He had finally changed his mind, at the beginning of October, a few days before a trial which promised to be delicate for him. But Twitter had refused to drop its lawsuit, leading the lead judge to dismiss the case and ask the parties to settle by October 28.
According to the Bloomberg news agency, Elon Musk pledged on Monday to complete the acquisition with bankers who are helping him finance the operation. If he acquires the social network, the whimsical manager can then immediately replace the members of the board of directors and the management of the group. Given the tone of his April text exchanges with Parag Agrawal, the current boss may not stay in his post for long.
A wave of layoffs expected
And he probably won’t be the only one to leave. Elon Musk reportedly explained to investors that he ultimately intended to lay off nearly 75% of Twitter’s 7,500 employees, according to information published last week by the washington post.
He also intends to relax the moderation of content, which he considers too strict, as demanded by the American right. Finally, he affirmed that profitability was not his priority, that he would fight spam better and made cryptic allusions to “X”its vision of an all-purpose application (messaging, social network, financial services, etc.), like WeChat in China.
“Obviously we will pay way too much, but the potential [de la plate-forme] is much higher than its current value.he told analysts recently at Tesla’s earnings conference.
Imminent outcome
Elon Musk’s personal fortune is estimated at some $224 billion by the magazine Forbes. But much of that wealth consists of its Tesla and SpaceX stock. To complete its financing, it took out $13 billion in bank loans backed by Twitter and called on investment funds.
The leader assured that he would take Twitter out of the stock market. The company would then more easily escape any external control. On October 4, during a conference on innovations at Tesla, he had nevertheless declared that he was ” essential “ that its flagship is listed on Wall Street, “because if the public doesn’t like what Tesla is doing, the public can buy stock and vote differently”.
“It’s very important that I can’t just do what I want”, he added, hilarious. The outcome is imminent.