Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, and the richest person in the world, by the way, has bought a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter, a platform where he has more than 80 million followers and where he shares everything from business ideas and memes to his experience at a famous Berlin nightclub (as he did a few days ago).
The purchase was made public in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and is worth approximately $2.89 billion, based on Twitter’s closing stock price on Friday.
The news sent Twitter’s stock prices up 25 percent, so it appears investors liked the issue.
The purchase, equivalent to 9.2 percent of the company, makes Musk Twitter’s largest shareholder.
He has criticized the company in recent weeks for not adhering to the principles of free speech and openly considered starting a social network of his own that would be open source, now that he has a say, he will surely begin to make the desired changes using his powerful influence.
Recall that Musk’s use of Twitter has occasionally gotten the CEO into trouble. In 2018 he said he had secured the funds to take Tesla private if it reached 420 per share. Eventually, it emerged that he had not secured funds for the sale, and the Securities and Exchange Commission forced Musk to have Tesla’s lawyers pre-approve any tweets about the company’s financial health, sales, delivery numbers and more.
That relationship between Twitter and Musk couldn’t end any other way.
Elon Musk asks his followers if they want a button to edit Tweets
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, now Twitter’s largest shareholder, posted a poll with a question many have been asking for years.
Is there a need for a button on Twitter to edit posted texts?
On the one hand it will offer the possibility to correct problems (in fact in the question he has already made a mistake in writing “yes”, on purpose), but on the other hand it could end the historical record of comments.
Do you want an edit button?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022
The poll came after Musk revealed a 9.2 percent engagement on Twitter, so the question Do you want an edit button? is more than just a curiosity, now Elon has the power to decide.
In response to Musk’s poll, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted that the fallout from the poll will be significant. He said it’s important to vote carefully, and at the moment it’s winning YES by a lot.
The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully. https://t.co/UDJIvznALB
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022
Five days ago Twitter tweeted a message on its official account saying it was working on the long-awaited “edit” feature. When asked if the tweet was a joke, the company said:
We can neither confirm nor deny it, but we may edit our statement later.
That makes clear the consequences such a tweet could have.
Musk has been raising questions about the ability to communicate freely on Twitter, that’s his biggest goal, to expand freedom of expression on the platform, so much so that he was even on the verge of starting a new social network, before putting money into his favorite, the one with the little bird.
Elon Musk promises changes at Twitter in the coming months after joining its board of directors
Elon Musk, the new and largest shareholder of Twitter since this week, and who according to Forbes also happens to occupy the position held until now by Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world, is willing to leave his mark on this popular social network.
Just hours after he asked in a Twitter poll whether users want to have an edit button for tweets posted, something many users have been asking for years and years, and which currently wins in the affirmative with more than 70% of the votes, he also moves to take a seat on the board of directors of the social network, promising to “make significant improvements to Twitter in the coming months”.
Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022
His entry will initiate a period of change
Parag Agrawal, CEO of Twitter, welcomed Elon Musk for joining Twitter’s board of directors through a series of tweets, highlighting him as a person who is “both a passionate believer and an intense critic of the service,” further indicating that his entry as a member “would bring great value to our Board.”
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.
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022
It is paradoxical that the much-lauded edit button has been the subject of a joke last April 1, day of jokes for the Anglo-Saxon world, may not be such a joke in the end, since Musk is used to test the situation by survey, like yesterday’s, on social networks to then make decisions.
For now he has not made a final decision, but he has read the recommendations of the youtuber Everyday Astronaut, who on Twitter has indicated that in case of going ahead, only become available 5 to 10 minutes after publication, and there is an indicator that the tweet has been edited, to which Musk has responded to seem reasonable.
He also responded to another user, who asked him to do something about the bots, saying that this is “the most annoying problem on Twitter, in my opinion”. There is no doubt that the rest of the executives have been paying attention to the answers Musk has been giving in recent days to users’ requests.
And all this comes days after Musk threatened to bring an alternative to Twitter that respects freedom of expression. Not a few users have also asked if the account of the former US president, Donald Trump, will be restored, and there are also recent reports that Trump himself does not use his own social network, Truth Social.
