And so the saga of Elon and Twitter ends not with a bang, but a whisper… But is there more to this tale?
As T.S. Eliot once wrote: “This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper.”
Perhaps the world isn’t ending just yet, but to many Twitter users, Elon Musk’s now-accepted bid for their favorite social media platform feels pretty apocalyptic.
Is this the end for Twitter?
Definitely not.
Sure, a lot of users are shouting about how they’ll “delete their accounts” if Musk takes over, but let’s be honest, it looks like the deed is done, and those accounts probably aren’t going anywhere.
So now, Twitter and its nearly 210 million daily active users are firmly in Elon Musk’s grasp as he seeks to make good on his promise of creating a platform built around free speech for all.
Under the terms of the deal, shareholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter stock they own, matching Musk’s original offer and marking a 38% premium over the stock price the day before Musk revealed his 9% stake in the company last month. The company will also be taken private.
This is what Musk had to say last night:
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”
So, there you have it. After a whirlwind courtship that saw plenty of bangs, the whole saga appears to have ended with a whimper, and those who will truly lose out are investors who wished to see Twitter hit its true potential. Of course, as a private company, we’ll never quite know what could have been.
I, for one, am pretty disappointed by that.