Twitter Shareholders Make A Decision On Elon Musk
Twitter's shareholders have approved the original deal to sell the social media platform to Elon Musk.
This article is more than 2 years old
Controversial technology entrepreneur, Elon Musk, seems to know a thing or two when it comes to business. Dubbed the wealthiest man in the world, Musk has made a name for himself in space exploration with his company SpaceX, founding the company that would later become PayPal, investments in cryptocurrency, and electric vehicle company Tesla. Now, it appears that the deal that Twitter originated with Elon Musk has been decided by the social media platform’s shareholders.
According to a report by Deadline, Twitter’s shareholders have approved a measure to allow Elon Musk’s original deal to go through, opening the doors to selling the social media giant to the billionaire. The business magnate had intended to purchase Twitter for $44 billion, but has since taken back his offer. Twitter sued Elon Musk for backing out of the deal, and a trial to decide the lawsuit has been scheduled to start next month.
Since being sued by Twitter for taking his multibillion dollar offer off the table, Elon Musk has tried to postpone his upcoming trial numerous times. Every time it comes on the docket, the judge seems to drop the matter, leaving the court case open for the time being. However, Musk is doing what he can to quash that matter entirely, just as text messages between Musk and his lenders have been revealed to show that the billionaire was predicting World War III earlier this year due to a speech Russian President Vladimir Putin was giving at the time.
Further complicating matters for Twitter and Elon Musk is the revelation that Peiter Zatko, the former security chief at Twitter, has been spreading the word that Twitter contains security deficiencies in place. Zatko believes many of these deficiencies may be of a national security concern and affect the privacy of many of the social media platform’s users. Zatko tried to warn Twitter executives but was apparently met with silence and disregard, prompting him to file a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, and the Federal Trade Commission last August.
With Twitter approving the sale of its company to Elon Musk, despite his reluctance to acquire the company outright, the shareholders appear to be playing a game of chicken with an uninterested party. Musk has chosen to believe that Twitter has lied to the general public about how many fake accounts and bots exist on its platform, an accusation he is promoting loudly as Zatko reports to a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the privacy concerns this week. If Zatko’s accusations are found to be true, it might bolster Musk’s chances in court to have the sale dropped altogether.
But support is what both Twitter and Elon Musk need right now as their trial starts in October. Musk’s lawyers have tried to postpone the trial or get the case dropped, but many of their tactics have not worked so far. After The Boring Company founder had once made a final demand to purchase Twitter earlier this year before reversing course, it seems he might have enough information on the social media platform to possibly dismiss the case when the trial begins.
