Elon Musk’s $39 billion bid to buy the rest of Twitter, unveiled Thursday morning, ends the uncertainty surrounding his intentions for the social media firm. But it raises lots of questions about the impact of a takeover, particularly given his statement that he doesn’t “have confidence in management” and past tweets suggesting he prefers a subscription-based business rather than one based on ad sales.
There’s also a question of whether Musk goes through with this, of course. Musk said in a letter to Twitter chair Bret Taylor, included with his securities filing today, that he had decided “after the past several days of thinking this over,” that he wanted to take Twitter private. It’s quite possible Musk will change his mind, particularly if he runs into difficulties arranging financing or if a rival bidder emerges to drive up the price. If the deal doesn’t happen, Musk said in his note to Taylor that he “would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder,” which implies he would sell.
Here are four takeaways from today’s news:
