Shareholders of Twitter ( (TWTR) – Get Twitter, Inc. Report) voted towards re-electing Egon Durban, an ally to Elon Musk, as a director to the board at its annual shareholder assembly on May 25.
Durban, the co-head of personal fairness agency Silver Lake, had partnered with Musk when he sought to take Tesla ( (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report), the electrical carmaker, personal as its CEO.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal declined to debate the standing of the takeover supply by Musk throughout its annual shareholder assembly.
He cited regulatory causes for staying silent on the subject.
“We are working by means of the transaction course of,” Agrawal said. “Our teams and I remain focused.”
Musk did not join the meeting and has not tweeted about it even though he is active in his comments.
The most recent moves by Musk, who is also CEO of SpaceX, could be a strategy to renegotiate the terms of the proposed $44 billion takeover offer by either seeking a lower price of $54.20 per share or back out of the deal completely.
Twitter’s board agreed to the takeover price and has said it remains committed to the deal.
Twitter’s Market Cap Down by $8 billion Since Musk’s Bid
The richest man in the world, Musk, who also is CEO of SpaceX, is now asking the Securities and Exchange Commission that regulates the stock market to investigate Twitter over the number of fake accounts on the platform.
The billionaire challenged Twitter’s board of directors and management since his acquisition offer to take the social media company private on April 14. By May 17, Musk said he wants the company to verify its data on the number of spam accounts and challenged Twitter’s board by saying that the takeover deal is no longer on the table.
“My supply was based mostly on Twitter’s SEC filings being correct. Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to point out proof of <5%. This deal can’t transfer ahead till he does,” Musk mentioned.
Musk has launched a really public marketing campaign to pressure the administration and Twitter’s board in an try to renegotiate the acquisition worth it had proposed. He believes he has achieved his aim and mentioned a Twitter deal at a decrease was not “out of the question.”
The billionaire made the comment at a virtual event hosted by investors Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks and David Friedberg for their “All-In” podcast.
Twitter has misplaced $8 billion in valuation for the reason that proposed take personal supply and is now price $27.32 billion as of May 24. The inventory has dropped by 22% for the reason that supply.
Scroll to Continue
The firm’s inventory closed at $35.03 on April 13 and rose after the takeover supply, reaching $50.36 on May 5, however Twitter’s inventory declined to $35.76 as of May 24.
Twitter’s Stance on Free Speech
Agrawal mentioned political speech and mentioned the social media firm is working to enhance Twitter, its insurance policies and processes.
“We continue to increase transparency and choice for people,” he mentioned. “We take responsibility for mistakes. We strive to learn from our mistakes and continue to evolve our approach.”
He reiterated that the corporate is working to earn extra belief from customers.
“We believe Twitter is a place for different voices and perspective to be heard,” Agrawal mentioned.
Twitter goals to stay impartial on political discourse.
“Our rules are enforced objectively on content and accounts and our policies remain neutral to political identity and ideology,” he mentioned.
Agrawal didn’t say whether or not extra bans of customers who promote conspiracies and false election info would proceed, stating that it happens solely in uncommon cases.
Former President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter within the aftermath of the January 6 riot on the Capitol as a result of he violated the corporate’s guidelines towards violence incitement. The choice was made whereas Jack Dorsey served as CEO. Musk has mentioned he would restore Trump’s account if his deal to accumulate Twitter is profitable.
“And it’s only in very rare instances that our policies lead to enforcement that takes content down or bans individuals more broadly improving the health of the public conversation on Twitter remains an essential focus area for us,” he mentioned.
Twitter is targeted on “limiting harm from misinformation on our service, through the policies we have around civic integrity, misinformation, manipulated media,” Agrawal mentioned.
The firm has begun implementing a brand new coverage round disaster misinformation, together with the struggle in Ukraine.
“Our primary focus is on providing people more context and limiting reach of harmful content,” he mentioned.
Twitter founder and former CEO Dorsey who additionally runs Block (SQ) – Get Block Inc Class A Report (previously Square) noticed his time period as a board member finish on the shareholder assembly on May 25.
Source: www.thestreet.com