Hillicon Valley — Elon Musk to buy Twitter for $44 billion

by Rebecca Klar, Chris Mills Rodrigo and Ines Kagubare - 04/25/22 6:34 PM ET

Twitter has reached a $44 billion deal to sell the social media platform to Elon Musk, the world’s richest man.

Former President Trump said he will not rejoin Twitter even if he’s reinstated following Musk’s buyout.

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Musk agrees to buy Twitter for $44 billion

Twitter on Monday reached an agreement to sell itself to Elon Musk for approximately $44 billion, leaving one of the world’s richest men in control of one of the most influential social media platforms.

The price per share agreed in Monday’s deal is higher than the roughly $48 that the company was trading at before Musk first announced his stake, but significantly lower than the $70 shares were trading at last year.

Musk has said that he views the acquisition of Twitter as way to protect free speech, declaring during a conference earlier this month that the offer was “not a way to sort of make money.”

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in a statement on Monday.

Read more here.

UNMOVED

One person unmoved by the news of Musk’s Twitter buy: Former President Trump.

Trump told Fox News that he will not be returning to Twitter even if invited back on post-acquisition.

Speaking to FOXNews.com, Trump said that he would stay on his own platform, Truth Social.

He added, “I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on Truth…”

NAACP TO MUSK: KEEP TRUMP OFF

The NAACP on Monday issued a statement from its president, Derrick Johnson, calling for former President Trump to remain off the social media platform Twitter following Elon Musk’s purchase of the company.

“Mr. Musk: free speech is wonderful, hate speech is unacceptable. Disinformation, misinformation and hate speech have NO PLACE on Twitter,” the statement said, shortly after it was announced that the Tesla CEO had reached a deal to purchase Twitter.

“Do not allow 45 to return to the platform. Do not allow Twitter to become a petri dish for hate speech, or falsehoods that subvert our democracy,” the civil rights group’s memo added, referencing Trump and saying that “lives are at risk, and so is American democracy.”

Trump was permanently banned from Twitter in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Read more here.

Cyberattacks hit European energy firms

German-based renewable energy companies have been hit with cyberattacks since Russia began its war in Ukraine, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The attacks on the three wind-energy firms – Deutsche Windtechnik AG, Nordex SE, Enercon GmbH – disrupted some of their operations and forced one company to shut down its information technology systems.

Deutsche Windtechnik AG, which was hacked in April, said that systems controlling about 2,000 wind turbines in Germany were down for a day following the attack.

Nordex SE, a turbine maker, was forced to switch off its information technology systems after detecting a breach in late March. Ransomware group Conti claims to be behind the attack.

The attack on the three companies comes as many western European countries plan to reduce their reliance on Russian fuel as they transition to more eco-friendly energy sources.

Read more here.

AMAZON UNION GOES FOR TWO

Workers at an Amazon sorting facility in Staten Island, N.Y., will begin voting on unionization Monday, less than a month after a warehouse in the borough became the first of the e-commerce giant’s U.S. locations to unionize.

After the unprecedented victory in the company’s first Staten Island union election, at the warehouse known as JFK8, the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) is hoping for a similar result at the LDJ5 facility.

A win at LDJ5 could further prove the viability of the worker-led union and secure key protections for the facility’s workers.

The e-commerce giant, meanwhile, may stand to lose more than just a vote: Consecutive wins for campaigns it has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into defeating could diminish its perception as an all-powerful employer and spark more organizing.

Read more here.

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: Are journalism and Twitter headed for splitsville?

Lighter click: Don’t forget about the real victims

Notable links from around the web:

Doctors Are Dropping Out Of This Medical NFT Project, Which Promised DMs With TikTok-Famous Physicians (BuzzFeed News / Emily Baker-White and Sarah Emerson)

When Police Do Marketing for Surveillance Tech Companies (Motherboard / Matthew Gault and Jason Koebler)

Twitter Employees Search for Answers as Musk Deal Takes Shape (The New York Times / Kate Conger)

One more thing: Europe adopts tech rule

Google, Meta and other large tech firms will need to more strictly police their platforms under landmark legislation green-lit by EU officials over the weekend.

The Digital Services Act targets hate speech, disinformation on online platforms and other harmful content, with officials reaching an agreement on the measure Saturday.

The DSA also gives regulators more power to impose billions in fines on companies that breach the new legislation.