Elon Musk continued to solidify his control over Twitter on Monday, as he dismissed the entire board of directors, and the company launched an offer to buy back all outstanding bonds,
Last week Musk finalized his purchase of the social media giant for $44 billion and immediately dismissed four of the most senior senior leaders of the company, including CEO Parag Agrawal, firing them for cause. He also reportedly ordered all Twitter source code locked down, and brought in trusted programmers from Tesla to look it over and report to him anything they find that is of interest.
Sources report Musk intends to effectively run the company entirely himself in the near term. After dismissing the board of directors in accordance with the terms of the acquisition agreement, Musk became the sole director of the company, according to securities filings. It is unclear if Musk intends to nominate new board members, or when he might do so. Typically Musk will fill the boards of his companies with loyalists, such as his brother, Kimbal Musk, who serves as a board member at Tesla.
According to a filing Monday, Twitter intends to buy back outstanding 3.875% senior notes that are due in 2027 as well as 5% senior notes that are due in 2030 at an offer price of 101% of principal plus accrued and unpaid interest. The agreements underlying the bonds required that the company offer to buy back its debt, should the company change ownership. The filing also noted Musk has asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit filed against him by Twitter, over his attempt to pull out of the deal now that it has closed.
There has been considerable rumor and speculation as to how Musk intends to run Twitter and what changes he intends to make. Early rumors described Musk telling investors he intended to cut 75% of Twitter’s workforce. Since then Musk has denied he intends to cut into the workforce that deeply. However in recent comments on twitter he has emphasized that he feels the social media company is top heavy with excess management and oversight. He has also indicated he would prefer less content moderation, and would likely reduce the expenditures in that direction considerably.
On Sunday, Musk tweeted internal communications from Twitter which would imply Twitter employees , leaders, and the company’s legal representation knew their internal metrics were fraudulent. Musk noted Twitter had concealed these communications from himself and the judge in Twitter’s lawsuit against him.
He advised readers to “stay tuned,” indicating there may be more revelations to come, and more consequences to arise from them.
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