The 50-year-old entrepreneur, investor and world's richest person, Elon Musk is famous for his unpredictable moves when it comes to taking business and investment decisions. He is most probably the only person who is entitled to get a clearance from US Securities and Exchange Commission before tweeting any information - material to the company - that could move its stock.
Here are three questions that have emerged after Musk's takeover of Twitter:
- Will Parag Agrawal remain the CEO of Twitter?
Twitter was till now a publically listed company. Musk's action is a complete takeover, which means Musk will buy out all the shares from shareholders for $54.20 per share. This now makes Twitter a private company with total control in the hands of Elon Musk. This also gives Musk the power to dissolve the entire board of Twitter and sack the present Indian origin CEO, Parag Agrawal. In November last year, Parag Agrawal was selected by Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey as his successor. It is popularly believed that Parag is an adherent believer of Dorsey's left-leaning policies and ideology.
Soon after the takeover on Monday, the news surfaced that Parag Agrawal will get approximately $42 million if Musk sacks him from the CEO position. This came from the research firm Equilar.
- Will Twitter unblock the banned/blocked accounts?
After Joe Biden won the last presidential election, Twitter was at the forefront in banning or blocking the tweets of Trump supporters in response to the capitol hill incident. Twitter even went ahead with permanently banning Trump from the platform. Musk has been vocal about his views on the matter and has many times advocated for absolute freedom of speech and expression on Twitter.
Right after Musk's takeover, the account of Tucker Carlson got unblocked. Tweeting from the recently unblocked account, Carlson wrote, "We're back". He further said, "The reason that today's sale of Twitter is big news — the reason it could turn out to be a pivot point in our history — is that Elon Musk does not agree with the rest of the billionaires in the tech business. He thinks everyone should be allowed to talk. Including people who disagree with him".
- What changes will happen to Twitter's left-leaning policies, algorithm & spambots?
In 2018, Jack Dorsey openly accepted that his ideology is left-leaning. He fully admitted that Twitter employees share a largely left-leaning bias. It came as Twitter faced accusations that conservatives are discriminated against on the social media platform. Dorsey said, "I fully admit our bias is more left-leaning". It is said that twitter's algorithm is also trained in a left bias manner which discriminates against conservatives and right-wing opinions and users.
Previously, there have been many instances where the threat of ban loomed over Musk because of his open and outspoken tweets against Twitter's left-leaning biases and its banning of accounts like that of former US President Donald Trump. Musk has been vocal about Twitter's left-leaning policies, work culture & algorithm. Musk has also several times pointed out the spam bots problem on Twitter. Just a few days ago, Musk tweeted saying, "If our Twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!” He added that he would “authenticate all real humans” as well.
Musk will bring about several changes in Twitter, its management, its algorithm and its features. Musk may also add the option to edit the tweet post publishing. He might also increase the word limit on Twitter or completely remove it. However, it would be interesting to see what Musk does with the company's board, CEO Parag and the left-biased employees of Twitter.