Twitter Employees Reportedly On Edge As Elon Musk Finalizes Acquisition

The social media giant Twitter has agreed to Elon Musk’s $44-billion acquisition offer on Monday, April 25, causing a flurry of panic within the ranks of Twitter’s employees regarding the possible future that the platform may have under Musk.

Musk and his financiers got Twitter to agree to sell the platform at a price of $54.20 per share, as Musk plans to take the company private in order to, among other things, broaden the free speech applications that the platform could have in the future, according to Deadline.

“The Twitter board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing,” Twitter’s independent board chair said. “The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.”

Some employees at Twitter, hidden by anonymity, have taken shots at Musk for his acquisition offer, with many wondering as to what capacity he will be overlooking the day-to-day operations of the social media platform, the Daily Beast reported.

“Why does anyone think that having a CEO run multiple companies is a good thing for [T]witter?” one employee said. “[Former CEO Jack Dorsey] did this and caught tons of heat for it. It’s not going to be different for Elon.”

“Elon fan boys are braindead mouth breathers and we have a bunch of them at Twitter for the record. Can’t wait [until] he lays half of us off,” another employee commented on a separate post.

“$50 [billion] spent on a social media site when people are starving to death,” one employee commented.

Some employees were more optimistic with regard to the acquisition, as they hope that taking Twitter private will allow them to optimize the user experience of Twitter in the future.

“I can admit that I'm anxious about the whole thing,” an engineer for Twitter said. “We're all excited about the product and want to better it to make everyone feel heard and empowered in a way that betters humanity.”

As Musk’s fortune is tied up in stock, he has gotten over $25.5 billion of financing through debt and margin loan financing and has committed over $21 million in equity to the acquisition. Musk’s plans for the platform are not fully-defined, but he has given broad outlines of what he intends to do once he makes Twitter private.

“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,” Musk said regarding the topic. “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.”