May it lastly be coming to an finish – and will we lastly get to see what comes subsequent for Twitter underneath Elon Musk?
In keeping with a brand new report from Bloomberg, Musk has right this moment 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, mentioned the folks, who requested to not be named discussing a non-public transaction.”
That might convey a detailed to 6 months of an more and more ugly, and public takeover battle – which was largely, actually, simply Musk combating towards 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 – although he does assume that he’s now significantly overpaying for the app.
Although once more, the explanation that he’s overpaying is essentially as a result of he’s raised important doubts about Twitter’s inner workings, and the numbers it experiences to the market, with Musk’s attorneys accusing Twitter’s exec workforce of mendacity about many components of the platform’s efficiency, which has successfully tanked the inventory.
However by no means worry – in response to 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 elements, 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 accessible to pick publishing companions, and evidently Musk will look to increase this, which might additionally align together with his earlier feedback round making the app ‘more like TikTok’. Like each different social platform at current.
However it’s his strategy to ‘free speech’, and what Twitter might quickly permit because of this, that has folks essentially the most involved.
Final week, Musk tweeted out memes by which he joked about joining forces with right-wing social apps Parler and Truth 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 doable, serving as a good discussion board for vigorous, 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 permit a number of the worst type of hate speech within the app, which isn’t towards the legislation, as such, however shouldn’t be given amplification through social platforms.
Which appears to be a lesson that each platform has realized over the previous few years. However Elon, not less than proper now, appears to disagree.
Mix that with the suggestion that Musk goes to cut 75% of Twitter staff – which is probably going an exaggeration, however nonetheless, it does appear to mirror his normal mindset within the takeover – and Twitter might find yourself getting very messy, very quick.
Definitely, that’s what Twitter’s present workers assume. In an open letter to Musk, in response to the experiences of large cuts incoming, Twitter workers have mentioned that such cuts:
“…will damage Twitter’s skill to serve the general public dialog. A risk 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 considering, however it does spotlight the office setting that Musk could possibly be about to tackle, which, once more, factors to potential uncertainty for the app.
Add to this the truth that lots of Twitter’s prime workers have already jumped ship, and new experiences that Twitter’s struggling to keep its most active users, and it’s not precisely wanting like a victory parade will probably 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 individual making such a declare has defied the percentages so many instances prior to now, you may’t dismiss that out of hand.
It seems to be like we’ll quickly discover out – there could possibly be extra twists to return but, however it does look like the primary stage of the saga is about to return to an finish.
