SAN FRANCISCO (REUTERS, NYTIMES) – Twitter chief govt Parag Agrawal advised staff on Monday (April 25) that the future of the social media agency is uncertain after the deal to be taken non-public under billionaire Elon Musk closes. He was talking throughout a companywide city corridor assembly that was heard by Reuters.
Mr Musk will be part of Twitter staff for a question-and-answer session at a later date, the company advised staff.
As Mr Agrawal listened to staff questions on Mr Musk’s plans for the company, the likelihood of layoffs and the board’s rationale for the deal, he deferred many questions as ones that needs to be requested of Mr Musk.
Mr Musk has stated he believes Twitter needs to be a platform without cost speech. Employees requested Mr Agrawal whether or not former United States president Donald Trump, who was completely suspended from Twitter final yr, can be allowed to return as soon as Mr Musk takes over.
“Once the deal closes, we don’t know which direction the platform will go,” Mr Agrawal stated, referring to the query relating to Mr Trump. “I believe when we have an opportunity to speak with Elon, it’s a question we should address with him.”
Mr Agrawal additionally advised staff there have been no plans for layoffs.
Mr Bret Taylor, chair of Twitter’s board of administrators, aimed to reassure staff that the settlement with Mr Musk prioritised “operating continuity” till the deal was closed.
“I think we feel very comfortable that (the deal) gives this team the ability to continue to make the company successful in between signing and closing the transaction,” Mr Taylor stated.
Regulators unlikely to dam Musk
Meanwhile, former antitrust officers stated regulators might look at Mr Musk’s buy of Twitter however are unlikely to sue to dam it.
Mr Bill Baer, who led the Justice Department’s antitrust division in the course of the Obama administration, stated enforcers would “look hard to see whether there is a risk to competition and to consumers”.
The massive price ticket, roughly US$44 billion (S$60.4 billion), would require Twitter and Mr Musk to submit the deal for evaluate by the Justice Department or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the 2 companies that regulate acquisitions.
Officials at each have pledged to take a better take a look at how mergers and acquisitions gas focus within the expertise trade. The FTC has sued Facebook on the grounds that the company’s buy of Instagram and WhatsApp stamped out attainable future opponents.
But Mr Musk’s acquisition of Twitter shouldn’t be the sort of deal the federal government often challenges. The authorities mostly intervenes when a company is shopping for a competitor. It additionally typically challenges offers when the acquisition will unfairly profit the purchaser in one other half of its enterprise. Mr Musk’s two main holdings – electrical carmaker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX – don’t compete with Twitter, and it isn’t clear that he’ll attempt to hyperlink them to the social community in any method.
“It seems to me he has a major stake in two transportation companies at the moment,” stated Mr William Kovacic, a former chair of the FTC. “And it’s hard to see how Twitter has much to do with either one of them.”
