According to reports, tech billionaire Elon Musk is on the verge of buying Twitter today, as the company’s board convened to discuss the deal on Sunday.

As expected, Musk’s positive news caused Twitter shares to jump by 5pc after Bloomberg broke the story earlier today. The news comes in a few days after Musk managed to consolidate a $47 billion fund, created by leveraging Tesla stocks in collateral along with a series of banks led by Morgan Stanley. 

Curiously, the CEO hardballed Twitter at first, saying that he wanted to get into negotiations with Twitter immediately, forcing Twitter’s new CEO Parag Agarwal to play quick, as Musk explained that he was willing to directly approach investors and conquer Twitter piece by piece, bypassing the board.

Earlier this April, Agarwal and his team seemed ready to combat Musk’s takeover, saying that the company refuses to be ‘held hostage’. One of their tactics was to consider flooding the market with several cheap new shares, a move that would dilute Musk’s holdings and prevent him from drawing a majority stake.

Musk retailated on Twitter itself, posting a poll that countered the board’s defense:

Meanwhile, Musk’s motives were under question, with several users asking the same question to the CEO: Why take over Twitter in the first place?

Musk’s standard reply is that he isn’t in it for a profit. As a ‘self-confessed free speech absolutist’, he aims to transform the company to, basically, allow him and others to post their thoughts without any interference.

This has important implications with respect to the world’s governments – India famously requested Twitter to block certain accounts critical of its Covid-19 security measures,while the US’ base of republicans have rallied behind Elon – thirsty for revenge after Donald Trump was banned in 2020.

Musk himself tagged along with this, replying to a post that highlighted Saudi Arabia’s opposition to the bid:

Ultimately, Twitter’s fight between one of its most popular accounts and its board of directors is one of the most divisive issues ever discussed on the website. Every one of Elon’s posts since the announcement of his bids has invited no small number of detractors, several of whom warn that a 100 percent filterless Twitter will give way to racists, homophobes, and other problematic hate groups.

(Featured Image Credits: Unsplash, TED)