Elon Musk’s Twitter take-over: A chronological timeline

You're not alone if you're having trouble keeping up with the Musk-Twitter takeover bid situation. Since the drama appears to have near-daily developments, the confusion around what happened and when is understandable. We can help you find out what's really going on.

The main bullet points are outlined in a neat little timeline.

Musk begins buying up Twitter shares in batches “almost daily”

The story seems to have started in April, but it actually began in January of this year. According to the Associated Press, the CEO of the company started buying the shares almost daily on January 31.

Musk had an early interest in building up his stake in the micro-blogging site.

Musk announces 9% stake in Twitter

On April 4, 2022, all of the shares Musk bought added up to 9% of his stake in the company. The stake was reported in a regulatory filing. The 9% stake made Musk the bird app's biggest shareholder. That doesn't last very long.

On this day, Musk asked his followers if they wanted an edit button.

Do you want an edit button?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022

Twitter offers him a seat on its board

After Musk's 9% stake in the company is announced, he is offered a seat on the board of the company. Musk was appointed to the board by Parag Agrawal on April 5.

The board seat offer came with a condition that Musk wouldn't purchase more than 14.9% of the remaining stock. Musk initially accepted the offer, saying he was looking forward to working with the team.

I’m excited to share that we’re appointing @elonmusk to our board! Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board.

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022

Vanguard Group reveals its larger stake

According to regulatory filings, the asset-manager Vanguard Group has a 10.3% stake in the micro-blogging site, which means that Musk isn't the biggest shareholder anymore.

Musk declines board seat offer

April 9, 2022, Musk declines the board seat offer. He was supposed to join the board that day, but chose not to, according to the CEO.

On April 10, 2022, the next day, Musk declined to join the board. It was not clear why Musk didn't join, but his intentions were still being worked out.

Elon has decided not to join our board. I sent a brief note to the company, sharing with you all here. pic.twitter.com/lfrXACavvk

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 11, 2022

Twitter investor files a lawsuit against Musk

The lawsuit against Musk was filed in a New York federal court. The lawsuit alleges that.

• That Musk may have failed to report his Twitter share purchases to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on time (within 10 days), and that, because of that, investors who sold their shares and were unaware of Musk’s purchase potentially missed out on gains they could have gotten when his purchase became public on April 4, as the share value increased quite a bit then.
• It’s also alleged that his delay to disclose his stock purchase resulted in Musk saving $143 million at that time while buying Twitter stock at a lower price.

Musk offers to buy Twitter for $43 billion

On April 14, 2022, Musk made an offer to buy the social network. Musk wants to take the company private. He wants to buy the company at $54.20 per share.

If the offer is not accepted, Musk said he would need to reconsider his position as a shareholder.

I made an offer https://t.co/VvreuPMeLu

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2022

Twitter stock falls as Musk announces bid to buy Twitter

After Musk announced his takeover bid, the stock of the company fell.

According to MarketWatch, it fell 1.7% to a price of $45.08, which is less than what Musk offered per share.

Twitter’s board of directors mounts a “poison pill” strategy against Musk’s takeover bid

The board of directors of the social media company decided on April 15 to use a poison pill to deter Musk from taking the company over. What is a poison pill? Current shareholders of the company can purchase more shares at a discounted price to weaken the interest of the person trying to take over.

There are different poison pill strategies, and the one we have just described is the one where you let all current shareholders buy discounted shares, except for the investor who is trying to take over.

If Musk's stake increases to 15% or higher, the poison pill strategy will kick in.

The story is still being worked on. There is more information coming out in this article.

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