Elon Musk - latest: Tesla boss ‘will become Twitter CEO when deal is complete’ as billionaires throw cash behind takeover

Elon Musk has received $7.1 billion from nearly two dozen investors including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and others to fund his purchase of Twitter.

The news comes after the billionaire sold nearly $8.5bn worth of Tesla stock.

Qatar - giving $375,000,000 - and Saudi Arabia will also be financing the deal.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of the board at Kingdom Holding Company and one of Twitter’s largest backers, said he is rolling over his current investment after initially criticising Mr Musk.

Mr Musk will pay $54.20 cash per share for the San Francisco-based company, which will now be taken private before the end of October.

The board announced it had reached a deal with Mr Musk on Monday, and that it represented a 38 per cent premium from Twitter’s closing price on 1 April, the day before the world’s richest person made his move for the company by announcing his nine per cent stake.

Mr Musk will likely make some significant changes to the social media platform, having made several hints in recent months about what his intentions are. It comes after Musk’s friend Dorsey stepped down as CEO and Parag Agrawal took over.

Changes could include a new CEO, worker layoffs and even monetising tweets by charging publishers to embed them, according to some reports.

You can follow all the latest news and developments right here.

Key points

• Mass Twitter deactivations after Musk takeover are ‘organic’

• Twitter announces company will be sold to Tesla titan Elon Musk for $44bn

• Elon Musk unable to escape SEC ‘b******s’

Elon Musk will be Twitter’s chief executive when he buys it

15:47 , Adam Smith

The Tesla and SpaceX boss will also take leadership of the social network when his purchase of the company is completed, CNBC reported, citing “sources”.

It gave no indication of whether the information had come from Mr Musk or Twitter’s side of the deal.

Mr Musk has been critical of the current Twitter management, and has suggested that disagreements with its current leadership about how the social network is run are at least part of the reason for him to buy the company.

In his initial letter making an offer for the company, sent to it chairman of the board Bret Taylor, Mr Musk said that he does not “have confidence in management”. That lack of confidence would lead him to “reconsider his position as a shareholder” if he is not able to buy the company, he said then.

15:30 , Adam Smith

Mr Musk’s aim to defeat spam bots may prove more challenging.

Mr Roetter told CNBC that Twitter would need to build a classifier that looks for characteristics of bots and then bans them.

The classifier would either be tuned to be aggressive, where it could also ban human “false positives,” or be less aggressive and allow some bots to slip through.

“I think you should do it,” Mr Roetter said. “But everyone should be prepared, there is no perfect spam bot classifier.”

Twitter’s former head of engineering comments on Musk’s planned takeover

15:00 , Adam Smith

Alex Roetter, Twitter’s former head of engineering, gave CNBC his views on Elon Musk’s proposed changes on the Big Technology podcast.

Mr Musk said he wanted to “authenticate all humans”, something that the company has been weighing internally but has always ran into issues around. Twitter has opened, and closed, its verification program numerous times.

Pure anonymity, Mr Roetter said, “fosters the worst parts of speech online”, so is in favour of Mr Musk’s program. However, critics have pointed out that anonymity allows people the ability to speak freely - especially for whistleblowers or people in repressive countries - something that ‘free speech absolutionist’ Mr Musk has advocated for.

14:10 , Adam Smith

Mr Musk has claimed to be a free speech absolutist but countries such as Qatar have been criticised for their repressive laws.

“Qatar already has a host of repressive laws, but this new legislation deals another bitter blow to freedom of expression in the country and is a blatant breach of international human rights law,” said Lynn Maalouf, Research Director for the Middle East at Amnesty International, of a law passed in 2020 that authorizes the imprisonment of “anyone who broadcasts, publishes, or republishes false or biased rumours, statements, or news, or inflammatory propaganda, domestically or abroad, with the intent to harm national interests, stir up public opinion, or infringe on the social system or the public system of the state”.

Amnesty has also been criticial of Saudi Arabia, pointing out that activists remain behind bars for exercising their right to free expression while authorities have carried out amputations, including ‘cross amputations’ on people found guilty of robbery.

14:00 , Adam Smith

Mr Musk is also said to be engaging with certain additional existing shareholders including Twitter co-founder and former chief executive Jack Dorsey, who may roll over his shares

13:50 , Adam Smith

Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud of Saudi Arabia has also committed to providing nearly 35 million shares in Twitter to retain a stake following the company’s takeover by Mr Musk.

This is despite previously criticising Mr Musk’s takeover.

"I don't believe that the proposed offer by Elon Musk ($54.20 per share) comes close to the intrinsic value of Twitter given its growth prospects," the prince said in a Twitter post on 14 April.

13:40 , Adam Smith

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison is providing $1 billion. Sequoia has is providing $800 million. VyCapital is providing $700 million, while Binance financed $500 million and Andreessen Horowitz has invested $400 million.

New filings show how Elon Musk will fund Twitter takeover

13:30 , Adam Smith

A new Securities and Exchange Commission filing provides some insight into how Mr Musk will be purchasing Twitter.

Funders include Binance and the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

12:30 , Adam Smith

Asked what he made of Elon Musk’s purchasing of Twitter, Mr Gates said: “You know, Elon, I guess it’s possible Twitter could be worse. But it also could be better… So I have a wait and see attitude.”

Bill Gates talks Elon Musk

11:30 , Adam Smith

Bill Gates used to be the world’s richest person. That title is now held by Elon Musk. The two men, however, don’t get on.

Last week, Elon Musk accused Bill Gates of “shorting” Tesla stock - tweeting an image of Bill Gates as a pregnant man.

But in a new interview with the BBC, Mr Gates says that there’s “no need for him to be nice to me”.

Asked specifically about whether he had bet against Tesla, Mr Gates said that it “has nothing to do with climate change. I have ways of diversifying” and pushed back against the claim that shorting Tesla was damaging to the environment.

“The popularity of electric cars will lead to more competition for selling those cars. So there’s a difference between electric cars being adopted, and companies becoming infinitely valuable.”

09:29 , Adam Smith

Elon Musk’s post about NFTs briefly sent a Bored Ape token soaring - before he tweeted mocking the images.

Elon Musk mocks NFTs

Wednesday 4 May 2022 15:00 , Adam Smith

The Tesla chief executive also recently took a shot at NFT buyers, changing his Twitter picture to a compilation of numerous Bored Ape images.

Wednesday 4 May 2022 14:07 , Adam Smith

Mr Musk also said that he wanted to increase the number of people using Twitter.

“Right now it’s sort of niche. I want a much bigger percentage of the country to be on it, engaging in dialogue,” said Mr Musk, adding that it should be “as broadly inclusive as possible, where ideally most of America is on it and talking”.

Elon Musk could take Twitter public again

Wednesday 4 May 2022 14:00 , Adam Smith

While Mr Musk’s purchase of Twitter would take the company private, it is unclear how long such a spell would last.

The billionaire has reportedly said he plans to stage an initial public offering of Twitter in as little as three years of buying it, according to the Wall Street Journal, in order to help garner funds for his purchase.

Private-equity firms often take companies private with the aim to make changes before taking them public again, and as such Mr Musk’s plan could help assure investors of Twitter’s future operations and profitability – although Mr Musk has not been specific about his plans.

Mr Musk reportedly suggested that websites should pay Twitter for embedding tweets in order to increase revenue for the social media service, although reports from the meeting said the Tesla and SpaceX chief was “thin on detail”.

Wednesday 4 May 2022 13:00 , Adam Smith

Elon Musk has also said a potential mass resignation of Twitter employees is “fine” following his purchase of the social media company.

Mr Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion last week, after a confusing series of events that made him the company’s largest shareholder and future board member, before stepping down from the board seat and offering to buy the company outright.

“It’s a free country,” Mr Musk told reporters at the Met Gala on Monday.

“Certainly if anyone doesn’t feel comfortable with that, they will on their own accord go somewhere else. That’s fine,” he said.

Mr Musk has already publically criticised Twitter employees, including chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, despite a clause in the deal that he cannot “disparage” the company or its representatives.

Elon Musk summoned to UK parliament to explain plans for Twitter

Wednesday 4 May 2022 12:19 , Adam Smith

Elon Musk has been asked to attend a hearing of the UK parliament to explain his plans for Twitter.

The billionaire bought the influential social network for $44 billion USD last month and has said he could change some of its policies.

Now the chair of the Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee has written to the Tesla boss to ask him to attend a hearing "in the near future"..

In a letter dated 29 April Tory MP Julian Knight said: "My committee has noted your proposed acquisition of Twitter and we are interested in the developments you propose."

Mr Knight said the committee was particularly interested in Mr Musk's plan to roll out verification for all users, which he said "echoes our calls on the UK government as part of proposed legislation, which we hope will restore the UK's public trust in digital platforms".

The chair added: "I therefore wish to take this opportunity to invite you to speak before our committee and discuss your proposals in more depth.

"I know you have expressed your wish that critics remain on Twitter and this may present and opportunity to address any critiques in public."

Elon Musk toys with idea of possible fees on Twitter

Wednesday 4 May 2022 12:03 , Adam Smith

Elon Musk has floated the idea of introducing a fee for Twitter once he has completed his prosepective purchase of the social media company for $44bn.

The Tesla boss took to Twitter to suggest that while “casual users” would not be charged for using Twitter, he may look to charge corporate users of the platform.

“Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users,” he tweeted.

Mr Musk made the prediction after earlier tweeting, “Ultimately, the downfall of the Freemasons was giving away their stonecutting services for nothing.”

Twitter’s board last week accepted Mr Musk’s offer of $54.20 per share in cash for total control of the company, that he has said he will take private.

Elon Musk sells $8.5bn in Tesla shares

Friday 29 April 2022 17:26 , Graeme Massie

The entrepreneur sold $8.5bn worth of his shares in the electric vehicle manufacturer after Twitter accepted his bid for the platform, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mr Musk sold $3.3bn worth of Tesla stock on Tuesday and another $654m on Wednesday, according to Teslarati.com.

On Friday morning, SEC filings showed that Mr Musk has sold another $4.5bn worth of shares as he raised the money needed to buy Twitter for $44bn.

Friday 29 April 2022 14:09 , Adam Smith

In a subsequent tweet, Mr Musk said the “far left hates everyone, themselves included” but added that he is also “no fan of the far right”.

It comes after Mr Musk has been replying to notiorious right-wing commentators including Mike Cernovich, and sharing memes that feature right-wing YouTuber Tim Pool.

Friday 29 April 2022 14:07 , Adam Smith

Mr Musk had previously said that he “strongly supported Obama for President, but today’s Democratic Party has been hijacked by extremists”

Elon Musk rages against Democrats

Friday 29 April 2022 14:06 , Adam Smith

Elon Musk has sent a series of tweets attacking the Biden administration and saying the party has been ‘hijacked by extremists’.

It comes after the Department of Homeland Security is stepping up an effort to counter disinformation by setting up a Disinformation Governance Board.

Mr Musk said the new board was “messed up” in reply to a tweet that called it the ‘Ministry of Truth’, a reference to George Orwell’s 1984.

Elon Musk wants to start charging for tweets - report

Friday 29 April 2022 13:17 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Elon Musk has reportedly made some suggestions on how Twitter could be improved under his ownership, including charging publishers to embed tweets in articles.

As numerous people have immediately pointed out on Twitter, this could presumably be bypassed just by taking a screenshot of the tweet and uploading it as an image.

Other changes include replacing current CEO Parag Agrawal with someone new, with the successor already apparently lined up.

You can read the full story here:

Elon Musk reportedly wants to start charging for tweets

Elon Musk sells $4.8bn of Tesla stock

Friday 29 April 2022 09:55 , Anthony Cuthbertson

In an apparent bid to finance his Twitter takeover, Elon Musk has sold 5.3 million shares of Tesla for roughly $4.8 billion, filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have revealed.

It represents just 3. per cent of the Tesla shares he held prior to the sale, and Musk says he won’t be selling any more Tesla shares at this stage.

Twitter revenue reaches $1.2bn and daily users increase to 229m amid Elon Musk takeover

Friday 29 April 2022 05:01 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: Twitter’s revenue reached $1.2bn and daily users increased to 229 million amid Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media company.

On Thursday, Twitter posted its quarterly earnings – $513m – days after the company agreed to be sold to the billionaire.

In the three months to March of this year, revenue rose 16 per cent, reaching $1.2bn, compared to the same period last year.

Gustaf Kilander has the story.

Twitter revenue and daily users increase amid Elon Musk takeover

Elon Musk jokes about buying Coca-Cola, putting ‘cocaine’ back in the popular drink

Friday 29 April 2022 04:01 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: Prospective Twitter owner Elon Musk is famous for peppering his highly active account on the platform with lighthearted jests alongside posts sharing serious stock acquisitions.

Now the billionaire entrepreneur, in the wake of agreeing to buy Twitter for $44bn, has stirred up his followers by posting a tweet that has led many to draw a blank: is he seriously considering buying Coca-Cola or just trolling his more than 80 million followers?

US market surges on news of Facebook parent Meta’s results despite fears over GDP figures

Friday 29 April 2022 03:03 , Graeme Massie

Wall Street saw technology and growth stocks surge on Thursday after strong earnings from Facebook’s parent company Meta allayed concerns the US economy contracted in the first quarter of 2022.

As of 3pm, the markets were enjoying their best day since May 2020, with all three major indexes enjoying a sustained boost.

Bevan Hurley has the details.

US market surges on news of Facebook parent Meta’s results despite recession fears

Trump finally posts on his Truth Social platform – reviving one of his most famous phrases

Friday 29 April 2022 02:15 , Graeme Massie

The silence was never going to last.

Donald Trump has finally posted on his Truth Social app, the struggling Twitter rival he launched earlier this year, after an uncharacteristic monthslong quiet from the usually voluable former president.

Josh Marcus has the story.

Trump finally posts on Truth Social app – reviving one of his most famous phrases

Musk tweets meme on political change

Friday 29 April 2022 01:14 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: The prospective new owner of Twitter posted a cartoon meme that appears to indicate his belief that it is actually the left-wing of American politics that has moved to the extreme since 2008, and not the right-wing.

The stick-figure cartoon suggests that people with centrist views in 2008, labelled “me” in the cartoon, are now to the right because of this change.

Marjorie Taylor Greene says she wants to meet with Elon Musk to discuss Twitter bans

Friday 29 April 2022 01:03 , Graeme Massie

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said that she hoped that she could meet with Tesla chief executive Elon Musk amid news that he has acquired Twitter.

The right-wing congresswoman from Georgia made the remarks during a news conference in front of the Capitol when introducing legislation that would abolish Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which says that service providers cannot be treated as a publisher or or speaker of information provided by another provider.

Marjorie Taylor Greene says she wants to meet with Elon Musk

Self-proclaimed ‘socialist’ to ‘red pill’ anti-lockdown crusader: What are Elon Musk’s politics?

Friday 29 April 2022 00:28 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: The Tesla and SpaceX tycoon has donated to both parties and attacked everyone from Joe Biden through Donald Trump to trade unions and ‘pronouns’, but underneath it all there is a consistent ideology, writes Io Dodds.

What are Elon Musk’s political beliefs?

Twitter: Will Elon Musk actually buy social media platform for $44bn?

Friday 29 April 2022 00:02 , Graeme Massie

Elon Musk has become the world’s richest person, and one of the business world’s most polarising figures on the back of the staggering commercial success of Tesla and engineering brilliance of SpaceX.

And with his $44bn offer for Twitter having been accepted by the social media’s platform’s board, Mr Musk will presumably add a third CEO role to his collection.

More details below.

Will Elon Musk actually buy Twitter for $44bn?

Tumblr gets new users as people leave Twitter

Thursday 28 April 2022 17:30 , Adam Smith

Matt Mullenwag, the founder of Automattic, which owns Tumblr, tweeted that Tumblr saw a 19% bump in new user registration in the wake of the news that Elon Musk was buying out the company

Twitter has been miscounting its users

Thursday 28 April 2022 16:07 , Adam Smith

Twitter has also been overstating the number of daily users on its service for the past, overcounting by up to 1.9 million users each quarter, in news that broke following its quaterly earnings.

The error was due to Twitter counting multiple accounts as active when they were all owned by one user - even if they were not in use.

Twitter announces quarterly results

Thursday 28 April 2022 14:04 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Twitter has just posted its quarterly earnings, revealing a 16 per cent increase in users and a revenue of $1.2 billion.

The first three months of the year saw the San Francisco company receive an average 229 million daily active users - though this doesn’t take into account any impactf Musk’s involvement with the platform might have had. His 9.2 per cent stake, followed by his takeover bid, were all revealed in April.

You can read more here:

Twitter revenue and daily users increase amid Elon Musk takeover

Elon Musk unable to escape SEC ‘b******s’

Thursday 28 April 2022 12:48 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Elon Musk is still facing the consequences of a tweet he made four years ago about taking Tesla private at $4.20 a share.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission forced him to pay a fine at the time, as well as have all future tweets about Tesla to be checked by a lawyer before he posts them. He claims it infringes his free speech, calling the regulators “bastards” at a recent TED event, but a federal judge just denied that the agreement be scrapped.

You can read the full story here.

Twitter reportedly tells advertisers it will be safe for brands even after Musk takes over

Thursday 28 April 2022 11:07 , Adam Smith

A new report from the Financial Times suggsts that Twitter has written to agencies to reassure them that their ads are not placed alongside harmful or offensive content. Twitter declined to comment.

“Twitter has made some strides in tackling online hate and extremism in recent years, and so while we want to be cautiously optimistic about how Elon Musk will run the platform, he has not demonstrated any focus on these issues to date,” Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League which organised a boycott against Facebook in 2020, said. “We worry that he could take things in a very different direction.”

Concerns have come from Mr Musk’s claim that he is a “free speech absolutist”, as content like hate speech and other abusive posts are permitted under the First Amendment - and Mr Musk has said that Twitter “should match the laws of the country and really there’s an obligation to do that”

Could Tesla put the Twitter deal in jeopardy?

Thursday 28 April 2022 10:41 , Adam Smith

Tesla shareholders are concerned the deal could mean Elon Musk selling a large number of Tesla shares.

Part of the money is raised using loans, but $21bn of the equity will need to be provided by Mr Musk himself.

However, Tesla shares are falling - 12.2 per cent from just over $1tn to $906bn.

“If Tesla’s share price continues to remain in freefall that will jeopardise his financing,” Oanda senior market analyst Ed Moya told the BBC.

Elon Musk putting the cocaine back in Coca-Cola

Thursday 28 April 2022 10:05 , Anthony Cuthbertson

For his next trick, Musk jokes he’s going to put the cocaine back in Coca-cola (The first publicly sold bottle of Coca-Cola in 1894 apparently contained around 3.5 grams of cocaine.)

When someone shared a photoshopped tweet claiming he was going to buy McDonald’s and “fix all of the ice cream machines”, Musk replied: “Listen, I can’t do miracles OK.”

Musk loses legal battle

Thursday 28 April 2022 09:51 , Adam Smith

Elon Musk’s lawyers had sought to terminate a 2018 consent decree that resolved SEC securities fraud charges following a tweet that announced that he was thinking about taking Tesla private at $420 (£327) a share, adding that he had “funding secured”.

The tweets, which were found to have no basis according to regulators, caused market fluctuation and as a result, the SEC charged Musk for “misleading investors”.

Mr Musk argued that having to have his tweets checked by lawyers - a subsequent penalty for his action alongside a $20 million fine - “crossed the line into harassment” and impeded his constitutional right to free speech.

However, Judge Lewis Liman inrejected those arguments.

“Musk cannot now seek to retract the agreement he knowingly and willingly entered by simply bemoaning that he felt like he had to agree to it at the time but now — once the specter of the litigation is a distant memory and his company has become, in his estimation, all but invincible — wishes that he had not,” wrote Liman.

Twitter says mass account deactivations after Musk takeover was 'organic'

Thursday 28 April 2022 04:58 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: Following the announcement that Tesla chief Elon Musk would buy out Twitter, several high-profile accounts including that of former president Barack Obama, and singers Katy Perry and Taylor Swift saw a drop in followers by hundreds of thousands.

The social media company has now confirmed that these account closures were largely “organic” and not from the automated deactivation of bots and fake accounts.

“While we continue to take action on accounts that violate our spam policy which can affect follower counts, these fluctuations appear to largely be a result of an increase in new account creation and deactivation,” Twitter said in a statement.

Elon Musk’s Twitter buyout in full

Thursday 28 April 2022 04:05 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: The comprehensive filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission contains more than 46,000 words - the length of a short novel - but reading through it there are some interesting titbits.

Among them is a clause that Twitter must stop actively looking for a new or alternative buyer, but if one approaches with a better offer, then it can be considered. If Twitter breaks off the deal with Elon Musk, it will need to pay him $1 billion. Specifically, if “Twitter terminates the Merger Agreement to allow Twitter to enter into a definitive agreement for a competing acquisition proposal that constitutes a Superior Proposal.”

The full filing on the SEC website can be found here.

Does Elon Musk buying Twitter put you off using it?

Thursday 28 April 2022 03:03 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: With hundreds of thousands of people appearing to quit Twitter after news broke that Elon Musk had bought it, we’re running a reader poll to see how the buyout has changed user opinion.

You can cast your vote and take part here.

We’ll have the results for you as soon as we have them.

Elon Musk calls for Twitter to be ‘politically neutral'

Thursday 28 April 2022 02:05 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: The Tesla boss, who had a $44bn bid for the social media platform accepted earlier this week, gave his latest thought on its political stance in a tweet.

“For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally,” he wrote on Wednesday.

Elon Musk proves he is an Independent reader

Thursday 28 April 2022 01:19 , Graeme Massie

The Tesla titan approved of an Indepndent story on Jim Carrey responding to claims he is one of “several different people” playing Joe Biden.

Mr Musk took to Twitter and responded to the story with a tears of joy and shooting star emojis.

Women’s group responds to Musk going after Twitter’s top lawyer

Thursday 28 April 2022 01:10 , Graeme Massie

Women’s group UltraViolet has issued a statement after Elon Musk went after Twitter’s top lawyer, Vijaya Gadde: “Women of color already face disproportionately high levels of vitriol, harassment and bullying on social media - and Elon Musk will make it worse.”

Ms Gadde has faced a wave of online harassment after Mr Musk criticised Twitter, for whom she runs moderation, for suspending the New York Post’s account temporarily over its Hunter Biden stolen laptop coverage.

“Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate,” tweeted Mr Musk on Tuesday.

Mr Musk has called for Twitter to adopt a free speech policy, which has led critics to suggest that banned right-wing figures such as Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene could return to the platform.

Why has Elon Musk — the purported champion of free speech — blocked me on Twitter?

Thursday 28 April 2022 01:03 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: It’s not only journalists. Musk has also blocked Public Citizen, a Washington DC-based nonprofit watchdog group that says it has been ‘standing up to corporate power and holding government accountable for 50 years’

Andrew Buncombe has the details.

Why has Elon Musk, champion of free speech, blocked me on Twitter? | Andrew Buncombe

Musk insists right-wing will be unhappy with his Twitter as well as left

Thursday 28 April 2022 00:09 , Graeme Massie

The Tesla boss took to Twitter to expand on a nearlier tweet in which he insisted the social media platform should be “politically neutral.”

“Attacks are coming thick and fast, primarily from the left, which is no surprise, however I should be clear that the right will probably be a little unhappy too. My goal is to maximize area under the curve of total human happiness, which means the ~80% of people in the middle,” he tweeted on Wednesday.

Elon Musk claims he is targeted by Bezos-owned Washington Post

Wednesday 27 April 2022 22:56 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: Mr Musk made the claim on Twitter on Wednesay.

“The Washington Post targets me relentlessly! Their insults could be higher quality, but some are not bad. I gave them 3 stars on Yelp,” he tweeted.

Jeff Bezos, who owns the newspaper, has lost his title as the world’s richest person to Mr Musk, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Mass Twitter deactivations after Musk takeover are ‘organic’

Wednesday 27 April 2022 21:01 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: In the wake of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover being announced, thousands of accounts appeared to diappear from the platform.

The follower counts of some high-profile users, including Katy Perry and Taylor Swift, dropped by thousands. Even the most popular account on Twitter, that of former US president Barack Obama, saw their followe counts take a hit.

There was speculation that it was either a purge on the part of Twitter, or the result of hundreds of thousands of people leaving the platform in protest to the takeover. Now Twitter is saying that the flctuations in followers for these big accounts come mostly from “organic” closures.

“While we continue to take action on accounts that violate our spam policy which can affect follower counts, these fluctuations appear to largely be a result of an increase in new account creation and deactivation,” Twitter said in a statement, adding that it was looking into the “recent fluctuations in follower counts”.

You can read more about it here.

Elon Musk forbidden from disparaging Twitter in buyout deal

Wednesday 27 April 2022 20:46 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: More details about Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover have been revealed in a US Securities and Exchanges Commission document today, including a clause that prevents the billionaire from being “disparaging about the company”.

It also shows that should either Musk or Twitter pull out of the deal, they would be forced to pay the other party $1 billion.

You can read the story here.

Elon Musk’s Twitter deal forbids him ‘disparaging the company’

Elon Musk posts ‘left-wing bias’ meme featuring Twitter executive on platform

Wednesday 27 April 2022 20:34 , Graeme Massie

The social media company’s prospective new owner tweeted the Joe Rogan meme, which features a picture of Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s top lawyer, to his account on Wednesday.

Elon Musk suggests new name for Trump’s Truth Social app as he accuses Twitter of censorship

Wednesday 27 April 2022 19:43 , Graeme Massie

Elon Musk has suggested a new name for Donald Trump’s Truth Social app as he accused Twitter, which has just agreed to buy for $44bn, of censorship.

The Tesla boss, whose takeover of the San Francisco-based platform was announced earlier this week, took to Twitter to compare it to to the former president’s own social media company.

Elon Musk suggests new name for Truth Social app and accuses Twitter of censorship

Who precisely is Elon Musk?

Wednesday 27 April 2022 15:58 , Anthony Cuthbertson

This is the question asked by Andrew Buncombe, in his latest piece: ‘Will the real Elon Musk please stand up?’

‘Is he the doting family man with seven intriguingly-named children. Or is he the shock-jock blowhard who smokes weed while chatting to Joe Rogan, gets taken to court for making wild allegations that someone is “a pedo guy”, and is charged by the federal financial watchdog for loose words about taking Tesla private, a $40m penalty he later tweeted was “worth it”?’

You can read the full piece here:

Will the real Elon Musk please stand up?

Trump's Truth Social tops iPhone app download chart after Musk's Twitter deal

Wednesday 27 April 2022 06:22 , Anthony Cuthbertson

Former US president Donald Trump’s social media platform Truth Social was the most downloaded free iPhone app in the App Store on Tuesday following Tesla chief Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter for $44bn.

Truth Social downloads have reportedly risen to 75,000 for the week of 18 to 25 April.

The relative positions in the download charts of Truth Social and Twitter were noted in a tweet by Musk himself, who presented the information without further comment late on Tuesday:

The figure for Truth Social downloads is up 150 per cent from the week before, according to data from Sensor Tower, a company that monitors mobile apps metrics.

This spike in Truth Social downloads comes after reports that downloads had fallen after a messy launch of the platform.

The former US president’s app has been downloaded roughly 1.4 million times to date since its launch in February.

Read the full story here.

Will the real Elon Musk please stand up?

Wednesday 27 April 2022 05:00 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: Man who taught himself computing at age of 10 may now sit at unprecedented nexus of power and influence, writes Andrew Buncombe.

Will the real Elon Musk please stand up?

Could ElonJet be shut down?

Wednesday 27 April 2022 04:15 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: In the wake of Twitter sealing a deal with Elon Musk to sell the social media company to the tech billionaire for approximately $44bn, there’s been a flurry of speculation about how the new owner intends to moderate a platform he’s vowed to take private while also prioritising “free speech”.

One person fearful of what a Musk-ruled Twitter will look like is Jack Sweeney, the teenage coder behind the Twitter bot @ElonJet, an account that tracks the movements of the Tesla titan’s private jet escapades.

Speaking to Insider following Monday’s announcement of the San Francisco-based platform’s sale to Mr Musk, the Florida native and university freshman told the outlet that he was unsure if the SpaceX founder will allow him to keep the bot account alive.

“​​It’s hard to think that he wouldn’t do something,” Mr Sweeney told Insider.

Mr Sweeney’s concerns are likely merited, particularly in the light of what happened last fall between the teen and the new Twitter owner.

In November 2021, Mr Musk reportedly reached out to Mr Sweeney and offered the coder $5,000 to shut down the jet tracking account, arguing that there were security concerns with the information being shared publicly.

Elon Musk’s Twitter deal raises concerns over concentrated wealth and power online

Wednesday 27 April 2022 03:04 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: A deal for the world’s wealthiest person to purchase social media company Twitter for $44bn has raised alarms over the concentration of billionaire power across social media platforms and how they will be used to shape both public policy and the economic interests of the people running them.

Elon Musk’s massive purchase has also revived calls from members of Congress and other critics to demand that US billionaires pay higher taxes, while questioning Mr Musk’s public and self interests in spending that much money to control the platform.

Alex Woodward has all the details.

Elon Musk’s Twitter deal raises concerns over concentrated wealth and power online

Some Republicans fear a Trump return to an Elon Musk-owned Twitter, reports say

Wednesday 27 April 2022 02:05 , Graeme Massie

ICYMI: While some Republicans took to publicly cheering Elon Musk’s $44bn purchase of Twitter as a major victory for free speech, there were some who viewed it with trepidation, according to reports.

For a series of top GOP insiders told Politico Playbook of their grave concerns about the new Musk-led Twitter becoming a haven to welcome back previously banned accounts, namely Donald Trump.

Johanna Chisholm has the story.

Some Republicans fear a Trump return to an Elon Musk-owned Twitter, reports say

Who owned Twitter before Elon Musk?

Wednesday 27 April 2022 01:02 , Graeme Massie

When Elon Musk finally closes his $44bn deal for Twitter this year he will joint ranks of media moguls, that include his rival for title of world’s richest person, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.

The Twitter board finally accepted the Tesla boss’s $54.20 per share cash offer for the platform on Monday after intense negotiations, both public and private, and it now has to be ratified by its shareholders.

Who owned Twitter before Elon Musk?

What happens to my Twitter stock?

Wednesday 27 April 2022 00:35 , Graeme Massie

Elon Musk has been given the green light to take over Twitter after the company’s board accepted his cash bid that would value it at around $44bn.

Twitter still remains a publicly-traded company on the New York Stock Exchange and will remain so until the platform is “delisted.”

More details below.

What happens to my Twitter stock?

Susan Collins says that Trump should get his Twitter back

Wednesday 27 April 2022 00:03 , Graeme Massie

Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine told Huffpost that former president Donald Trump should be allowed to have his Twitter account back.

The remarks come as Tesla magnate Elon Musk announced that he would buy the platform. Many conservatives have expressed hope the sale would mean that the former president would return to the social media platform.

Susan Collins says that Trump should get his Twitter back

Elon Musk’s ‘X Holdings’ to complete Twitter purchase by 24 October

Tuesday 26 April 2022 23:06 , Graeme Massie

A new SEC filing by Twitter reveals that the company will merge with two of Mr Musk’s ‘X Holdings’ companies later this year after the company agreed to sell itself for $44bn.

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Tesla boss slams critics who ‘fear free speech’ after $44bn Twitter bid accepted

Tuesday 26 April 2022 20:41 , Graeme Massie

Elon Musk has slammed those critics who ‘fear free speech’ after having his $44bn Twitter bid accepted by the social media company.

The Tesla CEO took to Twitter after staying off the platform for almost 24 hours in the wake of his takeover of the company being announced on Monday.

“The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all,” he tweeted.

Will Donald Trump come back?

Tuesday 26 April 2022 19:30 , Adam Smith

When asked if former US president Donald Trump would be allowed back on Twitter following Elon Musk’s deal to buy the platform, the company’s chief executive Parag Agrawal said the question should be directed to the billionaire himself.

“Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important,” Mr Agrawal said.

Speaking at a company-wide meeting following the announcement, Mr Agrawal told Twitter staff that the future of the social media firm is uncertain after the deal with the Tesla chief closes, according to Reuters.

At the meeting, he was reportedly asked whether Mr Trump – who was banned from Twitter last year in the aftermath of the 6 January 2021 Capitol riots – would be allowed to return.

“Once the deal closes, we don’t know which direction the platform will go. It’s a question we should address with him [Musk],” Mr Agrawal replied.

Read more...

Tesla share price slumps day after Musk buys Twitter

Tuesday 26 April 2022 19:03 , Graeme Massie

Tesla saw more than $100bn wiped offits market cap as the share price of the electic vehicle company slumped more than 10 per cent the day after Elon Musk bought Twitter.

At the time of this post on Tuesday, Tesla shares were down 11.5 per cent, or $114.82 to $883.20 per share.