Nvidia's record earnings reveal just 3 customers make up 30% of revenue
Subtitles
  • Off
  • English

The brief, eventful history of Twitter under Elon Musk

From the $44 billion bid to layoffs, everything you wanted to know (or not) about Twitter under Musk

We may earn a commission from links on this page.
Start Slideshow
Start Slideshow
CEO of Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX.
CEO of Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX.
Photo: Jonathan Ernst (Reuters)

Yesterday (April 14) marks one year since Elon Musk announced his offer to buy Twitter. And what an eventful year it was. First came some backpedaling by Musk, and legal challenges surrounding the acquisition. After the Musk era officially began, there were mass layoffs and changes to the platform, with many Musk tweets and poop emojis along the way.

Advertisement

Ready for a rundown of Twitter’s history under Musk? Let’s doom-scroll.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

2 / 23

Here’s a thought

Here’s a thought

Image for article titled The brief, eventful history of Twitter under Elon Musk
Photo: Dado Ruvic. (Reuters)

April 14, 2022.

Musk offers to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share, valuing the company at about $43 billion.

Advertisement

“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk writes in a letter to Brett Taylor, then the chairman of Twitter’s board.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

3 / 23

Twitter’s board considers the offer

Twitter’s board considers the offer

Twitter mascot.
Photo: Kacper Pempel (Reuters)

April 15, 2022.

Twitter’s board of directors adopts a poison pill defense, buying it time to consider Musk’s proposal.

Advertisement

A few days later, Twitter executives present the company’s current business plans and financial projections, as an alternative to Musk’s offer.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

4 / 23

Musk is serious about buying Twitter

Musk is serious about buying Twitter

Elon Musk.
Photo: Aly Song (Reuters)

April 21, 2022.

Musk announces that he secured $46.5 billion in financing for the acquisition, the first real assurance that Musk would be able to buy the company.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

5 / 23

Musk secures more money

Musk secures more money

Image for article titled The brief, eventful history of Twitter under Elon Musk
Photo: Indian Wells. (Reuters)

May 4, 2022.

Musk secures $6.25 billion in investment from third parties. Why would one of the world’s richest people need the help? Because Musk could not buy Twitter without selling large portions of his Tesla stock. Outside investors include the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, the crypto exchange Binance, and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

6 / 23

Musk has a problem with Twitter’s bots

Musk has a problem with Twitter’s bots

Image for article titled The brief, eventful history of Twitter under Elon Musk
Photo: Dado Ruvic. (Reuters)

June 6, 2022.

Musk seeks to terminate his acquisition of Twitter, pointing to its bot problem. “Twitter has failed or refused to provide this information,” his SEC filing notes.

Advertisement

Musk estimates that fake accounts make up at least 20% of all users. The company says the figure is closer to 5%.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

7 / 23

Musk gets sued

Musk gets sued

Elon Musk.
Photo: Dado Ruvic (Reuters)

July 12, 2022.

Twitter sues Musk in Chancery Court in Delaware to force him to complete the $44 billion deal.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

8 / 23

Musk buys Twitter

Musk buys Twitter

Elon Musk.
Photo: Reuters (Reuters)

Oct. 28, 2022.

Elon Musk now owns Twitter, closing the deal the day before a five-day trial trial was expected to start.

Advertisement

Musk begins to clean house, firing at least four Twitter executives—including CEO Parag Agrawal.

Musk writes on Twitter: “It is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence. There is currently a great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

9 / 23

Advertisers on Twitter get nervous

Advertisers on Twitter get nervous

Image for article titled The brief, eventful history of Twitter under Elon Musk
Photo: Mike Blake. (Reuters)

Nov. 3, 2022.

Brands such as General Mills and Volkswagen Group pause advertising spending on the platform, citing uncertainty about the direction of the company under Musk.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

10 / 23

Musk starts to trim the company

Musk starts to trim the company

Image for article titled The brief, eventful history of Twitter under Elon Musk
Photo: Brendan Mcdermid (Reuters)

Nov. 4, 2022.

Twitter begins layoffs in an effort to set the company on a “healthy path. The company lays off roughly half of its 7,500 employees (it won’t be the only round of layoffs). Days later, Musk asks some dozen fired workers to come back. Management realizes that some of the people who were let go were necessary to building Musk’s vision.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

11 / 23

Musk finds ways to monetize Twitter

Musk finds ways to monetize Twitter

Image for article titled The brief, eventful history of Twitter under Elon Musk
Photo: Dado Ruvic. (Reuters)

Nov. 8, 2022.

Twitter reveals a new verification scheme called Twitter Blue, allowing users to buy a checkmark for $7.99 a month. The checkmark previously was used to show that an account was verified or official. Musk had criticized Twitter’s original verification system, citing that it gives blue checks to notable users likely to be impersonated by bad actors.

Advertisement

Following that change, fake accounts flooded Twitter—including one impersonating the drug company Eli Lilly that was offering fake insulin—prompting the company to stop the rollout.

To be fair, Musk had tweeted:

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

12 / 23

Musk wants a hardcore culture

Musk wants a hardcore culture

Image for article titled The brief, eventful history of Twitter under Elon Musk
Photo: Aly Song. (Reuters)

Nov. 16, 2022.

Musk tells employees to commit to “extremely hardcore” work or to leave the company.

Advertisement

“Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore,” Musk reportedly wrote in a late-night internal email. “This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.

Mus adds that Twitter will be “much more engineering-driven.”

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

13 / 23

Musk restores accounts

Musk restores accounts

Donald Trump.
Photo: Evelyn Hockstein. (Reuters)

Nov. 19, 2022.

Trump’s Twitter account is restored, along with that of other previously banned figures, including Canadian author Jordan Peterson and comedian Kathy Griffin.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

14 / 23

Twitter Blue re-launches

Twitter Blue re-launches

Image for article titled The brief, eventful history of Twitter under Elon Musk
Photo: Dado Ruvic. (Reuters)

Dec. 12, 2022.

Twitter Blue relaunches, with the service costing $8 a month for web users and $11 a month for iOS users who purchase it through Apple’s app store. The latter is an effort to circumvent Apple’s 30% cut.

Advertisement

The new Twitter Blue allows users to edit tweets and get early access to new features. As part of the relaunch, businesses will receive a gold checkmark and governments will receive a gray checkmark. Days later, Twitter bans Elon Jet, the account tracking Musk’s flights.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

15 / 23

Who wants to be Twitter CEO?

Who wants to be Twitter CEO?

Image for article titled The brief, eventful history of Twitter under Elon Musk
Photo: Aly Song. (Reuters)

Dec. 20, 2022.

After a backlash to the suspension of several accounts of journalists, Musk tweets he would step down as CEO as soon as he finds someone “foolish enough” to succeed him.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

16 / 23

Musk makes changes to how Twitter looks

Musk makes changes to how Twitter looks

Twitter feed.
Photo: Jim Bourg. (Reuters)

Jan. 20, 2023.

Twitter rolls out a “For You” timeline, so users see both algorithmic and chronological feeds side-by-side. Twitter also rolls out a bookmark feature, allowing users to easily save tweets for later.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

17 / 23

Musk jokes

Musk jokes

Elon Musk next to Dogecoin.
Photo: Dado Ruvic. (Reuters)

Apr. 1, 2023.

Twitter says it will kill “legacy” blue checks—on April Fool’s Day. Musk later tweets that the final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

18 / 23

Musk finds more ways to monetize Twitter.

Musk finds more ways to monetize Twitter.

Twitter mascot next to Elon Musk face.
Photo: Dado Ruvic. (Reuters)

Mar. 30, 2023

Twitter announces multiple levels of API access, including free, basic, and enterprise tiers, with varying costs. In February, Twitter ends free access to its API, as part of the new pathways to monetizing Twitter. The basic tier for the API will cost $100 per month.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

19 / 23

Twitter “no longer exists”

Twitter “no longer exists”

Employees enter Twitter office.
Photo: Brendan Mcdermid (Reuters)

Apr. 4, 2023.

Twitter, Inc. rebrands to X Corp, according to a court filing in California.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

20 / 23

NPR has had enough

NPR has had enough

Twitter.
Photo: Dado Ruvic. (Reuters)

Apr. 12, 2023.

National Public Radio (NPR) says it will no longer publish on Twitter, becoming the first major news organization to go silent on the social media platform.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

21 / 23

Twitter will show more crypto information

Twitter will show more crypto information

Bitcoin.
Photo: Dado Ruvic (Reuters)

Apr. 13, 2023.

Musk partners with eToro to show stocks and crypto prices in real-time.

Advertisement
Previous Slide
Next Slide

22 / 23

Twitter wants to compete with Substack?

Twitter wants to compete with Substack?

Twitter office.
Photo: Brendan McDermid (Reuters)

Apr. 14, 2023.

Twitter introduces a new feature that will let Blue subscribers post 10,000-character-long posts, competing with rival newsletter companies.

Advertisement