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July 9, 2022

Elon Musk Trolled His Way Into Buying Twitter. Now He Wants Out.

But not without a strenuous legal fight!

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After agreeing to buy Twitter for $44 billion, Elon Musk has decided that the deal is off. But his attempt to break this agreement has roiled the tech company and set up a future riddled with legal headaches and uncertainty. The mood inside Twitter is grim, as the Washington Post reported Saturday: 

After weeks of threats, employees have largely been bracing themselves for Musk to formally attempt to walk. “This has been the direction of travel for a while,” said one employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss the situation within the company. “There’s been a general lack of belief that the deal would go through as signed.”

But its arrival only exasperated many workers, who say negotiations with Musk have brought intense scrutiny to Twitter. Any stock downturn would affect employee compensation, adding to the dismay of workers who have largely bristled at the prospect of the world’s richest man taking over their company. Since Musk announced his takeover, Twitter has instituted a hiring freeze and has replaced key executives.

In April, Musk offered to take the company private at $54.20 a share—valuing the company’s shares at more than a 50% premium—but in the days since, the stock (and morale inside the company) has plunged. He’s used his personal Twitter to amplify criticism of Twitter executives (not including the ones who have jumped ship). He also promised to restore Donald Trump’s account and raised a ruckus over the company’s handling of bot accounts. 

And yet, despite all the drama, Twitter still wants Musk to complete the takeover. The company is even threatening legal action to force his hand. “The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement,” Twitter chair Bret Taylor said Friday. 

A Twitter employee who spoke to the Post acknowledged that “Musk is destroying Twitter,” but said it would still be better for shareholders to sell at Musk’s original price, even if it meant gaining a “hostile owner.” 

So here is where Elon Musk has left Twitter: aghast at the prospect of his takeover and completely committed to making it happen. Quite the troll job. 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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