Elon Musk on Thursday accused Mark Zuckerberg of exercising too much control over public debates, describing him as 'Zuckerberg the 14...
Elon Musk on Thursday accused Mark Zuckerberg of exercising too much control over public debates, describing him as 'Zuckerberg the 14th' in a mocking reference to the Sun King.
Musk, 50, was in Vancouver for a TED conference, and was asked about his plans to buy Twitter, which he confirmed earlier that morning.
He insisted that it was 'not a way to make money', but rather a bid to defend democracy and protect freedom of speech.
Asked what he would say to critics pointing out that the world's richest man controlling such an influential platform could be considered dangerous, Musk replied that he wanted to make the platform more open, not more restricted.
'As for media sort of ownership, I mean, you've got Mark Zuckerberg owning Facebook and Instagram and WhatsApp, and with a share ownership structure that will have Mark Zuckerberg the 14th still controlling those entities,' Musk said, in what was thought to be a reference to Louis 14th, the all-powerful 'Sun King'.
'Like, literally,' Musk added, to laughter.
'We won't have that at Twitter.'
Musk said that he wanted to keep the maximum number of shareholders within Twitter, rather than dominating it himself. He currently owns 9.1 percent of Twitter. Zuckerberg owns 12.8 percent of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Musk also said that he wanted to make Twitter's algorithm open-source, and would err on the side of freedom of speech rather than censorship.
'If in doubt, let the speech exist,' said Musk.
'If it's a, you know, a gray area, I would say let the tweet exist.'
He added: 'I'm not saying that I have all the answers here, but I do think that we want to be just very reluctant to delete things. And just be very cautious with permanent bans. Timeouts, I think, are better than permanent bans.'
Elon Musk on Wednesday night informed the board of Twitter that he was making a $43 billion offer for the company. He said the company would be less dominated by him than Meta was dominated by Mark Zuckerberg (right)
Elon Musk appeared at the TED2022 Conference on Thursday, saying that he is pursuing a hostile takeover of Twitter not for financial gain, but for the 'future of civilization,' saying that he has a 'Plan B' if his initial $41 billion offer fails
'My strong intuitive sense is having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is important to the future of civilization,' he said
The 50-year-old spoke in Vancouver on stage with TED curator Chris Anderson
Musk and Zuckerberg have a long and contentious history.
In November 2014, Zuckerberg invited Musk to dinner at his home in Palo Alto, along with two top researchers from Facebook's new artificial intelligence lab and two other Facebook executives. The dinner was convened because Zuckerberg was concerned about Musk's repeated warnings over Artificial Intelligence, which Zuckerberg felt were alarmist, The New York Times reported.
The pair never saw eye-to-eye: in July 2017, Zuckerberg told a Facebook Live event he thought Musk's views on AI were 'pretty irresponsible'.
Musk replied on Twitter: 'I've talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited.'
The bad blood spilled over.
When a SpaceX rocket explosion destroyed a Facebook satellite in 2016, Zuckerberg declared that he was he was 'deeply disappointed' about SpaceX's failure.
When Facebook began to face questions over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Musk publicly deleted his companies' Facebook pages, tweeting that the company gave him 'the willies.'
Musk has since tweeted that people should '#DeleteFacebook', accused Facebook of 'spying' on users, and blamed the company for stirring up the January 6 insurrection.
Musk on Thursday admitted that he didn't know if his bid for Twitter would go through.
'I'm not sure I will actually be able to acquire it,' he told the Vancouver audience.
'I could technically afford it, but this is not a way to make money.'
Later on Thursday, Twitter's CEO told staff that the board is still evaluating Musk's offer to take the social media giant private for $43 billion, saying they would follow a 'rigorous process' - but not giving any timeline for their decision.
Parag Agrawal, 37, addressed the company's staff in an all-hands meeting on Thursday afternoon, after the board had met.
Parag Agrawal, the CEO of Twitter, told staff on Thursday afternoon that no decision had been made by the board about Musk's offer
He told employees that the company was still evaluating Musk's $43 billion offer, according to The Verge.
Ahead of Agrawal's speech, employees were played songs including 'I Say A Little Prayer' and 'I Want It That Way' by the Backstreet Boys, the site reported.
He then held a 25-minute Q&A session.
He did not say when the board would have an answer for Musk, or which way the board was leaning - responses which The Verge said frustrated some staff.
The board would follow a 'rigorous process' and make a decision 'in the best interest of our shareholders,' he said.
Musk, whose share is four times that of the only other individual shareholder in the company - founder Jack Dorsey - on Wednesday made a sensational bid for the company, and publicly revealed the plan on Thursday morning.
Earlier on Thursday, it emerged Musk was in fact longer the largest shareholder in Twitter, after asset manager Vanguard Group increased its stake to overtake him.
Vanguard now owns 10.3 percent of Twitter, while Musk owns 9.1 percent of the company, making him the largest individual shareholder.
Vanguard, led by CEO Tim Buckley, increased its stake in the company at some point during the first quarter, according to SEC filings made on April 8.
Vanguard previously reported owning 67.2 million shares of Twitter or about 8.4 percent of the company as of the end of December, according to FactSet.
Other owners of large quantities of Twitter stock include Morgan Stanley, Fidelity and Black Rock.
Vanguard's holdings are now worth $3.78 billion, based on Twitter stock's closing price on Wednesday.
The company frequently sides with management on voting issues, and does not usually advocate for changes like a hedge fund or activist investor might, The Wall Street Journal reported - meaning that they are unlikely to look favorably at Musk's proposal to buy out the company.
Twitter's shares had a volatile day of trading on Thursday, closing down at $45.08 amid concern about Musk's intentions
Musk on Thursday afternoon tweeted a poll, asking: 'Taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to shareholders, not the board.'
Over 80 percent of the one million votes cast in the first hour said yes.
Musk then tweeted: 'I love you.'
Earlier on Thursday, Musk fired back at a Saudi Arabian shareholder of Twitter who tried to block his $41 billion hostile takeover plan, questioning whether royalty in the notoriously repressive state should exercise control over the social media platform.
In a tweet, Musk responded harshly to Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who claimed to be 'one of the largest' Twitter shareholders and said he would 'reject' Musk's proposal to take the company private, calling the offer insufficient.
'How much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly & indirectly? What are the Kingdom's views on journalistic freedom of speech?' Musk asked bin Talal.
Bin Talal's true ownership stake in Twitter is unclear. Though the prince shared a screenshot boasting of his 5.2 percent stake in 2015, his investment firm later reduced its stake below 5 percent, and has not had to report any further transactions, regulatory filings show.
Bin Talal is a cousin to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, whom the CIA concluded ordered the grisly assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. The Saudi government has long ranked near the worst in the world for press freedom.
Meanwhile the Twitter board, meeting on Thursday afternoon, reportedly considered combatting Musk's takeover bid with a so-called 'poison pill' provision that would prevent the Tesla CEO from increasing his stake in Twitter, a source told the Wall Street Journal.
Also known as shareholder rights plans, poison pills typically trigger an automatic stock dilution through a flood of new shares if a corporate raider's ownership stake grows too large. In Twitter's case, the idea would be to prevent Musk from increasing his 9.1 percent stake in order to pressure the board to accept his deal.
Elon Musk responded harshly to Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal (left), who claimed to be 'one of the largest' Twitter shareholders and said he would 'reject' Musk's proposal to take the company private
Twitter shares closed down 1.68 percent on Thursday after a volatile session, ending the shortened trading week at $45.08 -- well below Musk's offer price of $54.20, in a sign that markets do not view his bid as likely to succeed
In separate tweets, Musk argued that it 'would be utterly indefensible' not to allow shareholders to vote directly on his plan. 'They own the company, not the board of directors,' he wrote.
Twitter shares closed down 1.68 percent on Thursday after a volatile session, ending the shortened trading week at $45.08 - well below Musk's offer price of $54.20, in a sign that markets do not view his bid as likely to succeed.
Musk, speaking at the TED2022 Conference in Vancouver on Thursday afternoon, defended his takeover bid, saying he was motivated to transform Twitter into a bastion of free speech.
'This is not about the economics,' Musk said.
'My strong intuitive sense is having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is important to the future of civilization.
'The civilizational risk is decreased the more we can increase the trust of Twitter as a public platform,' he said.
'Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square, so it's really important that people have both the reality and perception that they are able to speak freely, in the bounds of the law.'
Asked whether there is a 'Plan B' if the Twitter board rejects his bid, Musk responded 'there is', but declined to offer further details, saying that he would elaborate further at 'another time.'
Though regulatory filings suggest that his bid is contingent on anticipated financing, Musk insisted that he had the resources on his own to complete the transaction, saying: 'I have sufficient assets...I can do it.'
Shares of Twitter swung between positive and negative in volatile afternoon trading, but remained well below Musk's offer price of $54.20 per share, suggesting that markets are skeptical that the deal will go through.
At the TED conference, Musk laid out his vision for Twitter, saying that he believed the source code for the site's algorithm should be openly shared on GitHub.
'Having a black box algorithm that promotes some things and demotes others is really dangerous,' he said.
He said that permanent bans from the platform should be rare, and that the only limits on speech should be the legal limits imposed by the governments of countries Twitter operates in.
'A good sign as to whether there is free speech is when someone you don't like, is allowed to say something you don't like.
'If that is the case, then you have free speech,' said Musk
However, he did not directly address whether he would reinstate former users who have been banned from Twitter, a category that notably includes Donald Trump.
Shares of Twitter slumped in midday trading, dropping below Wednesday's closing price to $45.76 -- well below Musk's offer price, signaling that investors remain skeptical that his takeover bid will succeed
The Twitter board met on Thursday to consider Musk's bid to take the company private, and the company held an all-hands meeting to update staffers. The CEO, Parag Agrawal, said after the board meeting that any decision will be made in the best interests of the company and its shareholders, but did not give a timeline. A conference room in Twitter headquarters is seen above
In a tweet, the SpaceX CEO simply wrote: 'I made an offer'
According to a regulatory filing, Musk launched his bid with a text message to Twitter board chair Bret Taylor on Wednesday, telling him he was preparing to send an offer letter and asking: 'Are you available to chat?'
In the follow-up call, Musk told Taylor that his bid was his final offer, saying: 'I am not playing the back-and-forth game,' according to notes for the call.
'If the deal doesn't work, given that I don't have confidence in management nor do I believe I can drive the necessary change in the public market, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder,' Musk warned Taylor, the notes show.
Musk's offer price of $54.20 per share represents a 38 percent premium to the closing price of Twitter's stock on April 1, the last trading day before the Tesla CEO publicly revealed his 9.1 percent stake in the company, sending the stock popping.
The offer figure also includes the digits '420,' a reference to marijuana that Musk frequently jokes about.
Twitter will review the offer with advice from Goldman Sachs and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a source told Reuters.
Musk said U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley was acting as financial adviser for his offer.
He did not specify how he would finance the transaction if it goes ahead.
Though Musk is the world's richest man, much of his wealth is not liquid, consisting of his ownership stakes in Tesla and SpaceX.
Musk would have to sell off some 43 million Tesla shares to fully finance the deal himself - a move he is seen as unlikely to take - meaning that he will likely secure outside financing using his stock as collateral.
Tesla shares sank more than 3 percent in morning trading on Thursday after the bid was announced.
A filing shows that Musk's offer is contingent upon 'completion of anticipated financing', implying that funding for the bid is not yet secured.
Musk has a contentious relationship with some major investment banks, including JPMorgan Chase, which is currently involved in suits and countersuits with Tesla over Musk's tweets and disputed bond contracts.
The chances of Musk's Twitter takeover bid succeeding seemed very much up in the air.
Because his offer letter hints strongly at a management shakeup, the bid is likely to be fiercely opposed by current Twitter execs, including CEO Parag Agrawal, who also holds a board seat.
If Twitter's board members decide to battle Musk's takeover, they could solicit competing offers from other potential buyers.
They could also pursue a 'poison pill' plan, which would trigger punishing dilutions of company shares if Musk attempted to increase his stake in the open market.
In a tweet, billionaire Mark Cuban said that Twitter is desperately seeking a 'white knight' to make a competing offer or buy out Musk's position to save the company from his takeover.
'Every major tech company , Google, fb, et al is on the phone with their anti trust lawyers asking if they can buy Twitter and get it approved,' he wrote.
But Cuban added in a follow-up tweet: 'I think Twitter will do everything possible not to sell the company.
'They will try to get a friendly to come in and buy Elon's shares and get him out.'
He accused Musk of 'f****** with the SEC'.
'My conclusion, @elonmusk is f—king with the SEC,' Cuban tweeted.
'His filing w/the SEC allows him to say he wants to take a company private for $54.20 Vs. his 'Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.'
'Price go up. His shares get sold. Profit [up] SEC like WTF just happened.'
In September 2018, Musk and Tesla were fined $40 million for Musk's tweet about taking the company private, and Musk was forced to step down as chair of the company as part of the settlement.
Yet Wedbush analyst Dan Ives called Musk's offer for Twitter a 'historic move' that is likely to succeed, writing in a note 'ultimately we believe this soap opera will end with Musk owning Twitter after this aggressive hostile takeover of the company.'
Ives wrote that it was 'get out the popcorn time' and predicted 'many twists and turns in the weeks ahead as Twitter and Musk walk down this marriage path.'
Musk, who is Twitter's biggest individual shareholder, sent his offer letter on Wednesday night, telling the company's board that 'it's a high price and your shareholders will love it'.
He is the world's richest man, with a net worth of $282 billion and a fortune worth $100 billion more than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Musk announced his bid in a tweet on Thursday morning, saying simply: 'I made an offer.'
Outspoken Musk, known for his social media antics, told Twitter board chair Bret Taylor: 'I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.
'However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form.
'Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.'
The letter continued: 'I am offering to buy 100 percent of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54 percent premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38 percent premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced.
'My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.
'Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.'
Billionaire Mark Cuban said that Twitter is desperately seeking a 'white knight' to make a competing offer or buy out Musk's position to save the company from his takeover
Musk launched his bid with a text message to board chair Bret Taylor on Wednesday, followed by a phone call
Musk's formal offer letter to buy Twitter in a hostile takeover is seen in full above
Musk, who has more than 81 million followers on Twitter, recently added a new picture of himself as a much younger man
Musk added that his offer was not a 'threat', but 'it's simply not a good investment without the changes that need to be made.'
He continued: 'And those changes won't happen without taking the company private.'
He called that price his best and final offer, although the billionaire provided no details on financing. The offer is non-binding and subject to financing and other conditions.
The total deal value was calculated based on 763.58million shares outstanding, according to Refinitiv data.
Earlier this week, Musk rejected an offer to join Twitter's board after disclosing his stake in the company, a move which analysts said signaled his intention to take over the company as a board seat would have limited his stake to just under 15 percent.
Musk has amassed over 80 million followers since joining the site in 2009 and has used the platform to make several announcements, including teasing a go-private deal for Tesla that landed him in hot water with regulators.
Musk has been a vocal critic of of Twitter in recent weeks, mostly over his belief that it falls short on free speech principles.
The social media platform has angered followers of Donald Trump and other far-right political figures who've had their accounts suspended for violating its content standards on violence, hate or harmful misinformation. Musk also has a history of his own tweets causing legal problems.
Musk's move comes after he tweeted on Saturday asking whether the social media network was 'dying' and to call out users such as singer Justin Bieber, who are highly followed but rarely post.
In other weekend tweets, Musk posted joke polls on whether to drop the 'w' from Twitter's name and on converting its San Francisco headquarters to a homeless shelter 'since no one shows up anyway.'
He also suggested removing ads, Twitter's main source of revenue.
The second tweet about deleting 'w' saw Musk give two options without no as an answer, with 55.8 percent saying 'yes' and 44.2 percent 'of course' of 445,158 votes to-date
In the first post, Musk seemingly took aim at the company's lax remote working policies, saying he came up with the plan 'since no one shows up anyway.' So far, 91.1 percent of 923,459 respondents voted in favor of the plan
It comes after analysts speculated that Musk's roller coaster journey as Twitter's largest shareholder could be part of a ploy to stage a hostile take-over of the company.
Musk revealed last week that he had become Twitter's largest shareholder, with a 9.1 percent stake in the company, on March 14.
One day after he disclosed his stake, platform CEO Parag Agrawal announced the Tesla co-founder had been invited to the join the company's board of directors, a seat he gladly accepted.
By accepting the board seat, Musk was limited in how much of the company's shares he could own, with a 14.9 percent cap.
However, on Sunday Parag announced the SpaceX CEO formally declined his board seat.
Musk, 50, signed the new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Monday indicating he had declined his board seat.
The document stated Musk could 'express his views' about Twitter's policies and services to the board or on social media. He could also purchase additional shares or sell Twitter stock, if he saw fit.
Agrawal said the board would still 'remain open' to Musk's input, while also warning: 'There will be distractions ahead but our goals and priorities remain unchanged.'
'The board and I had many discussions about Elon joining the board, and with Elon directly,' wrote Agrawal. 'We were excited to collaborate and clear about the risks.
'We also believed that having Elon as a fiduciary of the company where he, like all board members, has to act in the best interests of the company and all our shareholders, was the best path forward. The board offered him a seat.'
Agrawal continued: 'We announced on Tuesday that Elon would be appointed to the board contingent on a background check and formal acceptance.
However, on Sunday Parag announced the SpaceX CEO formally declined his board seat
On April 5, Elon Musk vowed to 'make significant improvements' to Twitter after revealing his large stake in the social media platform and intention to join the board of directors
'Elon's appointment to the board was to become officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board.'
Agrawal did not specify why Musk was not joining the company's board.
But, he added: 'I believe this is for the best.
'We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our board or not.'
The 37-year-old said: 'Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input.'
'The decisions we make and how we execute is in our hands, no one else's.
'Let's tune out the noise, and stay focused on the work and what we're building.'
No comments