Who Is The Owner Of Twitter? Now And Before

Twitter is a microblogging and social networking service provided by Twitter, Inc., where users post and interact with messages called “tweets.” Unregistered users can only view public Tweets with some restrictions. However, registered users can tweet. Like, and re-tweets.

In March 2006, Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams founded Twitter and launched it in July of the same year. It has been dubbed the “SMS of the Internet” and was one of the top 10 most visited websites in 2013.

At the beginning of 2019, Twitter’s monthly active users exceeded 330 million. The social media site reported a 16% year-over-year revenue increase to $1.2 billion in the first quarter that ended in March. The company said it was plagued by the conflict in Ukraine.

Elon’s First Silent Purchase

Starting in January 2022, Musk began secretly taking stock on his Twitter. On March 12, 2022, Twitter’s market cap bottomed out at $26 billion. Musk owned more than 5% of the company as of March 14, 2022.

Starting March 20, he began self-posting on Twitter, criticizing businesses and conducting polls. During this time, there was a little speculation that Musk might change Twitter in some way, and Twitter’s stock price rose slightly.

By April 4, 2022, Musk’s holdings were publicly listed and designated as a significant investor. Musk also won a seat on his Twitter board of directors. As a result, Q1 2022 results have been released, showing strong performance and user growth, with MCap skyrocketing to its $38 billion recent high as of May 7, 2022.

Meeting With The CEO

In April, Musk publicly criticized Twitter executives, including Vijaya Gadde, the company’s general counsel. Former Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal has taken a neutral stance, and the defense of Parag Agarwal executives has been made public.

Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal and staff member Elon Musk attended three to four all-hands meetings that began in late April. Concerns were raised most recently in mid-June when Elon gave his views on working from home, and Twitter previously promised a “permanent work from home” model for registered employees.

Musk Backing Out & Lawsuit

Musk said in a regulatory filing dated May 8 that the company announced its intention to exit the acquisition. Twitter’s board has since said it will sue to force purchases on pre-agreed terms and prices. Twitter’s MCap has dropped further, reaching $25 billion on July 11. Did.

On July 12, 2022, Twitter sued Musk for breach of a $44 billion contract, asking a Delaware court to impose harsh conditions on Musk’s performance. According to the lawsuit, Musk, like any other person subject to Delaware contract law, “changes his mind, ruins the company, disrupts the business, destroys shareholder value, and walks away if he wants.” is not allowed.

Twitter’s Largest Share Holders

The largest percentage of the shares, 10.3%, was owned by Vanguard Group, a Pennsylvania-based investment management firm. After billionaires, Morgan Stanley Investment Management occupied its third-largest position (8.4%). Other prominent fund managers, BlackRock and State Street, each owned 4.75% of the business. Former CEO Dorsey owned 2.4%. His CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal, owned his 128,000 shares worth $7 million, worth $32 million. They are all released now.

Twitter: A Private Company

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, bought Twitter for $44 billion, ending a months-long legal battle with the company’s former owners. Musk has now taken the business private as part of his acquisition deal.

In September, a shareholder will agree to sell his shares in the company to him at $54.20 per share and will receive cash as payment. In 2013, he said, when Twitter went public, employees could buy shares at a discounted price. These employees are receiving cash payments for their investments as the company’s stock is now delisted.

Elon Musk’s Tweet After Buying Twitter; Credits: Twitter

Changes by Musk

A lot has changed on Twitter since then, from Musk moving into an office with a sink to the retirement of key employees and directors. The latest of these is a change to Twitter’s verification process.

Twitter’s “Blue Ticks” will no longer be available to celebrities or users with active accounts, or what Elon Musk calls the “Lords & Pawns system,” but will only be available to Blue members of Twitter; it costs $8/month. Plus, Blue members have even greater perks.

This includes tweet replies, mentions, search priority, and half of the ads (not completely ad-free). Members of Twitter Blue can now publish long-form videos and audio. This could lead to more content producers subscribing.

Since then, much criticism has been directed at Musk’s choice of site. The SpaceX and Tesla entrepreneur, who changed his Twitter bio to “Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator,” only determined the new mandatory verification fee in subsequent tweets.

More Possible Changes

Twitter employees have been preparing for layoffs since Musk took over and ousted the top leadership team, including CEO Parag Agrawal. Several directors and vice president positions were dismissed over the weekend, according to people familiar with the matter.

Parag Agrawal Bio; Credits: News Now

Other executives were reportedly asked over the weekend to compile a list of team members who could be fired. On Wednesday morning, in full attendance, the employee expects to hear from Musk for the first time since the purchase was finalized. A senior member of the product team has been instructed to target a 50% reduction in headcount, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Tesla engineers and director-level staff reviewed the list. The person requested anonymity as they were discussing sensitive matters. A layoff list was created and ranked based on the employee’s contributions to her Twitter code during her tenure. Both a Tesla employee and his Twitter boss voiced their opinions.

Revival of Vines

People with knowledge of the situation claim that Musk is thinking about bringing Vine back. Before it faded and was shut down in 2012, Vine, a well-liked short-form video software, had made several online celebrities. The platform launched the fad that is currently dominated by TikTok from ByteDance Ltd. and imitated by Instagram’s Reels and YouTube’s Shorts.

According to a source familiar with the situation, many employees are offering their time privately to focus on the Vine project in the hopes that contributing to a project that Elon Musk is enthusiastic about will help them retain their jobs.

It wouldn’t be as easy as turning it on to bring it back. According to some with knowledge of the situation, the 2016 shutdown product is based on outdated code that can no longer interface with Twitter’s current infrastructure and would most likely need to be redone. It would also bring forth other difficulties, like the need for stronger creator payment features and the potential for collaborations involving music rights.

Leadership

Around the time he started owning Twitter, Musk turned to his longtime friend for advice. He meets regularly with Sriram Krishnan, a former Twitter executive and now general partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and David Sacks, an investor and friend from his time at PayPal.

Group members discuss the company’s product strategy on Twitter, though it’s unclear if they will take a permanent leadership position. In the company’s internal directory, both Karakanis and Sachs manage her Twitter email account; Krishnan said on Sunday that Andreessen said he’s still “doing my job” at Horowitz.

Kayvon Beykpour; Credits: YouTube

Kayvon Beykpour, the former head of Twitter products who was fired by the former CEO earlier this year, could become a full-time executive. Mr. Bakepool was observed in his office after the transaction was completed and contacted about the return, but no decision was made, according to people familiar with the matter.

Content Control

The most famous plan Musk had for Twitter was to turn it into a “free speech” haven. However, it is not yet clear how he intends to do this. He has openly said he will hold off on deciding which banned users from keeping until he can speak to a panel of outside experts. It claimed to have challenged the law and narrowed it down to a few specific rules for the team to study. The first is his general Twitter policy against misinformation. This penalizes posts that contain false information about Covid-19, election results, and more. Mr. Musk wants the policy to be more detailed, according to people familiar with the matter.

According to People, Musk told the team that Twitter’s hateful conduct policy specifically meant that users could be sanctioned if they “specifically confuse or name a transgender person.” We asked them to evaluate the provision, Either way, and it’s sure to be an interesting development.