Elon Musk’s Twitter take-over: A chronological timeline
Confused about what's going on regarding Elon Musk and Twitter? You're not alone. Let us guide you through this complex story of takeover bids and poison pills.
JimMin
If you’re having trouble keeping up with the ever-changing Elon Musk-Twitter takeover bid situation, you’re not alone. Plus, the confusion around what happened and when is understandable, since the drama appears to have near-daily developments. So instead of clicking through hashtags on Twitter to find out what’s really going on, let us help you.
Our neat little timeline below outlines all the main bullet points you need to know to make sense of this social media Succession-like situation.
Getty Images/Digital Trends GraphicMusk begins buying up Twitter shares in batches “almost daily”
January 31, 2022: While this story seems to have started in April, its beginnings really lie back in January of this year. The Associated Press reports that regulatory filings showed that the Tesla CEO began buying Twitter shares on January 31 on an “almost daily” basis.
Though few took notice, it’s clear Musk had an early interest in building up stake in Twitter.
Musk announces 9% stake in Twitter
April 4, 2022: All those shares Musk bought eventually added up to him having a 9% stake in Twitter. This stake was reported on April 4 in a regulatory filing. This is the point at which the story becomes public, because at the time, that 9% stake made Musk the bird app’s biggest shareholder. But keep reading, because that doesn’t last long.
It was also on this day that Musk put a poll on Twitter, asking his followers if they wanted an edit button.
Do you want an edit button?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022
Twitter offers him a seat on its board
April 5 2022: Not long after Musk’s 9% stake in the company is announced, Twitter offers him a seat on its board. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announces Musk’s appointment to the board via a tweet on April 5.
The board seat offer came with a stipulation that Musk wouldn’t purchase more than 14.9% of Twitter’s remaining stock. Musk initially accepted this offer, saying he was looking forward to working with the team “to make significant improvements to Twitter.”
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
Vanguard Group reveals its larger stake
April 8, 2022: Regulatory filings showed that asset-manager Vanguard Group reported on April 8 that it actually has a 10.3% stake in Twitter, which means Musk isn’t the biggest shareholder anymore.
Musk declines board seat offer
April 9, 2022: Musk declines Twitter’s board seat offer. He was actually supposed to officially join the board that day, but instead chose not to join that morning, according to Twitter’s CEO.
April 10, 2022: The next day, Agrawal announces via a tweet that Musk had declined to join Twitter’s board. It was unclear initially why Musk chose not to join, but it seems his greater intentions were still in the works.
Elon has decided not to join our board. I sent a brief note to the company, sharing with you all here. pic.twitter.com/lfrXACavvk
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 11, 2022
Twitter investor files a lawsuit against Musk
April 12, 2022: Twitter investor Marc Bain Rasella filed a lawsuit against Musk in a New York federal court. The lawsuit alleges the following:
That Musk may have failed to report his Twitter share purchases to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on time (within 10 days), and that, because of that, investors who sold their shares and were unaware of Musk’s purchase potentially missed out on gains they could have gotten when his purchase became public on April 4, as the share value increased quite a bit then. It’s also alleged that his delay to disclose his stock purchase resulted in Musk saving $143 million at that time while buying Twitter stock at a lower price.Musk offers to buy Twitter for $43 billion
April 14, 2022: On April 14, Musk tweets that he made an offer to buy Twitter. The offer is for $43 billion, and Musk wishes to take the company private. Specifically, he wants to buy Twitter at $54.20 per share — that is his “best and final offer.”
According to a letter included within the SEC filing for the bid to buy Twitter, if the offer is not accepted, Musk said: “I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.”
I made an offer https://t.co/VvreuPMeLu
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2022
Twitter stock falls as Musk announces bid to buy Twitter
April 14, 2022: Not long after Musk’s Twitter takeover bid was announced, Twitter’s stock fell.
And according to MarketWatch, it fell 1.7% to a price of $45.08, which is less than what Musk offered per share in his bid.
Twitter’s board of directors mounts a “poison pill” strategy against Musk’s takeover bid
April 15, 2022: Twitter announced on April 15 that its board of directors would be employing a “poison pill” deterrent against Musk’s takeover bid. What’s a poison pill? It’s basically when the current shareholders of given company are allowed to purchase more shares at a discounted price to weaken the ownership interest of the person trying to take over (Musk).
According to Investopedia, there are different kinds of poison pill strategies, and the one we’ve just described (where you let all current shareholders buy discounted shares, except for the investor who’s trying to take over) is known as a “flip-in poison pill.” This strategy eventually results in the takeover becoming increasingly cost-prohibitive for the investor who wants to take over.
Twitter’s poison pill strategy is expected to kick in if Musk’s stake in Twitter increases to 15% or higher.
This story is still in progress. We will continue to update this article has more information comes out.
