Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal told staff on Thursday that the firm was still examining Elon Musk‘s $43 billion bid to purchase it and take it private, setting the groundwork for a potentially protracted dispute with the world’s richest man.
According to a person in attendance, Agrawal began a 25-minute Q&A session with employees Thursday after clips of the Backstreet Boys’ songs “I Say A Little Prayer” and “I Want It That Way” were aired.
He didn’t indicate when the board would respond to Musk’s offer or which direction it was leaning, which disappointed some who had hoped for a more extensive explanation.
He stated that the board would go through a “rigorous process” before making a decision “in the best interest of our shareholders.”
Employees expressed fears about the future of Twitter if Musk were to take over, according to Agrawal, who took over as CEO for Jack Dorsey last November.
At least one employee inquired about future layoffs, which Agrawal stated would not be based on individual performance assessments.
He said it was too early to predict on what would happen to staff stock options if Twitter was taken private in answer to another query. The emergency call took place during a “concentration week” for Twitter staff, during which they were given Monday off and encouraged to focus on projects and attend few meetings.
Musk had previously blasted the potential of board action against the deal, saying it “would be totally ridiculous” not to submit the deal to a shareholder vote.
Musk said his offer was not about generating money and that he didn’t “care about the economics at all” in an interview earlier in the day at the TED 2022 conference in Vancouver. Instead, he claimed he wants Twitter to defend “free expression” and expose its algorithm to criticism from the outside.
Agrawal’s comments together signal that Twitter would not easily yield to Musk’s desires, and that a nasty, Succession-style corporate war could erupt in the coming days.
Twitter’s board of directors could choose to accept other buyout offers or use a poison pill, which is a traditional method for thwarting hostile takeover attempts.
Meanwhile, Musk said at TED on Thursday that if Twitter rejects his offer, he has a “plan B.”
Even if Twitter is able to defend itself against Musk this time, employees are already questioning if the company will be able to withstand future takeover bids.
When an employee asked, “Are we just going to start inviting any and all billionaires to our board?” during the all-hands meeting, Agrawal declined.
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