Timanie S Mills

Twitter being one of the most prominent social media sites over the past decade is now in a fight no one saw coming. Elon Musk, a potential buyer for the site has challenged the CEO, Parag Agrawal, for mispresenting the accuracy of the real number of users on the actual site. 

Musk believes that less than 5% of Twitter users are bots and the offer that was put on the table was solely based on Twitter’s SEC fillings hoping to be accurate. Agrawal refused to show documentation of the reports for the users. As a result, Musk is pulling back on his offer until those reports are provided. If both parties pull back on the deal, they are forced to pay one billion in termination fees. 

Brett Taylor, the chairman of Twitter’s board of directors, steered the agenda, which included finances, security practices, plans for 2023, and other topics. Those plans could soon be rewritten by new management — that is, if the board has its way. Mr. Taylor, 42, is leading a lawsuit to force Elon Musk to buy the company. In April, Mr. Musk, the billionaire tech executive, made a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. Then he said he wanted out. In July, Twitter sued to force him to live up to the agreement.

On Monday, September 26^th, 2022 night, Mr. Musk suggested that he had experienced another change of heart and said he wanted to buy Twitter after all — and at the original price. If Mr. Musk goes through with his latest offer, the board will eventually cease to exist, and the future of Twitter will be up to Mr. Musk.

The fight for twitter is one that is not going easy; Workers and confidants describe Mr. Taylor. According to New York Times, they describe Mr. Musk “as the quiet antidote to the impulsive and norm-shattering” and also, describe Mr. Musk as “methodical and deeply experienced in steering complex business deals.” While not widely known outside Silicon Valley, Mr. Taylor helped build Google Maps and Facebook’s “like” button. He joined Twitter’s board in 2016 and became a co-chief executive of Salesforce in November.

“He’s very systematic, and he doesn’t let emotional stuff move him off the plan too much,” said John Lilly, a partner at Greylock Partners who has invested in a company started by Mr. Taylor. That has not stopped Mr. Musk from attempting to needle Mr. Taylor. In July, the men faced each other at a business conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, a day after Mr. Musk’s lawyers sent a letter to Twitter announcing that he planned to abandon the deal. Mr. Taylor responded to the letter with a tweet telling the billionaire to expect a lawsuit.

According to Delaware Online, the trial for Elon Musk vs. Twitter, in Delaware Chancery Court is scheduled to start on October 17, 2022 Preparations for the trial were well underway with lawyers representing Musk and Twitter hashing out several discovery arguments in the past few weeks. Musk was scheduled to give a deposition Thursday, September 9th, and Friday, September 10th in Wilmington at the office of the law firm of Potter Anderson & Corroon. A court filing submitted late Monday moved the closed-door deposition to a law firm in Austin, Texas. 

The outcome of the whole trial (Elon Musk v. Twitter) is one that the world is waiting to see. Can Elon Musk bring Twitter back to its original standpoint in the social media world?