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Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer media award, in Berlin, on Dec. 1, 2020.Hannibal Hanschke/The Associated Press

Twitter Inc. TWTR-N is set to agree to Elon Musk’s $43-billion takeover bid, his “best and final” offer for the social media company, people familiar with the matter said.

Earlier in April, the social media company had adopted a “poison pill” to protect itself from Musk’s $54.20 per share offer, which followed days after he had disclosed an over 9 per cent stake and rejected a seat on the social media company’s board.

Elon Musk to buy Twitter for $44-billion

Here’s a chronology of developments, including some tweets from Musk and latest comments disclosed in a filing:

Date, tweets and comments from company filing

April 21, 2022

  • “If our twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!” Musk tweeted. “And authenticate all real humans,” he added.

April 14, 2022

  • “Taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to shareholders, not the board,” Musk asked in a poll on Twitter in which 83.5 per cent of the responders said yes
  • Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said that as one of the major shareholders in Twitter he rejected a takeover bid by Musk
  • “However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company,” Musk said in a filing
  • “My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder,” Musk added in the filing
  • “Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it,” Musk said in the filing
  • Musk tweeted saying “I made an offer”, with a link to the company filing April 12, 2022
  • Musk was sued by former Twitter shareholders who claim they missed out on the recent run-up in its stock price because he waited too long to disclose a 9.2 per cent stake in the social media company

April 10, 2022

  • Musk polled followers on Twitter asking whether the company’s headquarters in San Francisco should be converted into a homeless shelter. The tweet is now deleted. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos had backed Musk’s idea
  • Twitter CEO Agrawal shared a note on Twitter saying that Musk rejected the company’s offer to join its board. Musk deleted the tweet, where he responded with an emoticon with a face-with-hand-over-mouth
  • Musk started a poll asking if “w” should be deleted from Twitter’s name, leaving two voting options, “yes” and “of course.” He deleted that too

April 9, 2022

  • With respect to Twitter’s business model, Musk tweeted before deleting it: “And no ads. The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends on advertising money to survive”
  • Musk tweeted, “Everyone who signs up for Twitter Blue (ie pays $3/month) should get an authentication checkmark” about its subscription service that offers “exclusive access to premium features” on a monthly basis. Later, he deleted the tweet

April 5, 2022

  • Agrawal tweeted Musk is being appointed to Twitter’s board. “He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term”, a follow-on tweet said April 5, 2022
  • Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey welcomed Musk to Twitter’s board in a tweet:

April 4, 2022

  • Musk posted a Twitter poll asking users if they wanted an edit button. “Do you want an edit button?” Musk asked in the tweet, in response to which Agrawal said the consequences of the poll will be important. “Please vote carefully,” he tweeted
  • In his first tweet since the disclosure of his stake in Twitter, he said, “Oh hi lol”

March 26, 2022

  • Musk said Twitter failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy and asked if a new platform was needed.

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