Why Elon Musk Is Taking Twitter Private
Elon Musk is intending to take Twitter private so he has greater control over his plans and decisions to create a Twitter in his vision.
This article is more than 2 years old
Well, congrats are due for Mr. Elon Musk as late last week he officially became the owner of Twitter. With his long-embittered challenges to make the purchase behind him, Although there had been debates about the real amount of users on the platform, Musk finally relented and is now making a big splash at Twitter HQ.
According to The New York Times, Elon Musk is going to make big changes to the organization. After he walked into Twitter HQ carrying a sink (what?), he did (and has been making) make it clear that Twitter should buckle up for big changes. The biggest is that Elon Musk said that he is taking the company private and laying off a huge number of employees.
But why all the changes? And especially the decision to take Twitter public? Why is Elon Musk doing that? The stock will stop trading on the New York Stock Exchange and stockholders will receive $52.20 per share of Twitter stock they own.
By taking the company private, Elon Musk will no longer be beholden to stockholders, or other co-owners of the company. There will be one owner with no one to answer to about the choices he makes or ideas he has.
Elon Musk wants to make Twitter a bit more friendly to free speech, or so he says. And when someone like the President of the United States tweets something disparaging or even sensitive about the US, he will not be banned. Instead, he will be allowed to discuss what he would like, how he would like.
Elon Musk made a big show of caring about his interest in free speech with his remarks about removing current Twitter safeguards about hate speech. Twitter employees are concerned that the platform could become a way to get right-wing radicals in a titter about certain topics. That may be his plan.
But, when his company is public, there are shareholders who could vote against certain choices he wants to make like removing certain codes of conduct. Elon Musk is also looking to add certain subscription-based options to Twitter users. Right now, subscription-based users in Canada have access to a Twitter edit feature.
Elon Musk will roll out more and more features like this under a subscription-based umbrella and plans to turn Twitter into “an everything app.” He is also reportedly getting rid of any managers that cannot write code as he demands new things at a very rapid pace.
Anyone who cannot keep up will be asked to leave–if they don’t leave on their own. More than likely, for massive changes like this in a public company, one would need approval from a board of investors. Elon Musk, it seems, does not want to answer to anyone.
Elon Musk does intend to keep Twitter from becoming a complete free for all by looking into bots and trolls that tend to do real harm on the platform. In the coming weeks, that platform will be focused on safety and identity.
