Twitter’s leader attempted to soothe employee anxiety regarding Elon Musk’s offer to purchase the company for $41 billion.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal called an emergency all-hands meeting Thursday, in which he sought to respond to several concerns raised among the Big Tech company’s employees, including whether Musk wants a hostile takeover of the company.
MUSK TWITTER TAKEOVER COULD PROMPT BIG TECH TO CENSOR LESS, CONSERVATIVES HOPE
“I don’t believe we are being held hostage,” Agrawal said to employees, according to the New York Times.
The employees had several questions for Agrawal, including if the takeover bid was real and whether Musk would attempt to overhaul the employees’ work if he successfully took control.
Some employees were frustrated the board didn’t inform the staff about its discussions with Musk before the release of a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission announcing his 9.2% investment in the company. Musk had been quietly purchasing shares, and Twitter’s board members believed they agreed with Musk on critical issues, Agrawal said.
Others expressed concerns that Agrawal was not doing enough to respond to Musk’s tweet campaign, while others wondered if Twitter would take action to try and stop Musk from acquiring all of the company’s shares. Twitter is reportedly considering a “poison pill” approach, which would further complicate any attempts by Musk to take over the company.
Agrawal told employees that while he is legally not allowed to disclose what is going on, he emphasized that Twitter’s board is conducting a “rigorous review” of Musk’s offer and will make a decision that will be in the best interest of Twitter’s shareholders.
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Although Musk expressed interest in keeping some shareholders on board if he buys out the company’s shares, he has run into some resistance. Saudi Prince Al Waleed bin Talal al Saud, who owns a 5.2% share in the company, rejected Musk‘s offer to buy the social media platform, claiming the offer does not come close “to the intrinsic value of Twitter given its growth prospects.”
Musk attempted to justify the purchase during a Thursday appearance at TED2022, where he said that improving the public’s trust in Twitter would help decrease “civilizational risk.” He said the purchase was not for economic gain. Musk also claimed to have a “Plan B” if Twitter rejected his offer but did not elaborate on that point.
