(Reuters) - Elon Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) late on Thursday and his first move was to fire the social media company's top leadership which he accused of misleading him over the number of spam accounts on the platform.
The deal close puts an end to what had turned out to be a protracted legal battle between the two sides.
Below is a snapshot of the Twitter takeover saga.
Date Development Twitter
share
reaction
April 4 Musk discloses over 9% stake in Jumps up to
Twitter 31%
April 5 Twitter says Musk will join Rises over
company's board 9%
April 10 Musk says he will not join Twitter Falls 3.3%
board
April 14 Musk offers $54.20/share, a 38% Rises 6%
premium to Twitter's April 1
closing price
April 15 Twitter adopts poison pill to Gains 1.4%
protect company from takeover in next
session;
lags offer
price by
13%
April 21 Musk lines up $46.5 billion in Adds 2.6%,
financing for the deal but lags
Musk's
offer by
11.5%
April 25 Twitter board accepts Musk's offer Climbs ~7%;
trades 3.5%
below offer
price
April 29 Musk sells Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares worth over Rises 2.3%;
$8 billion in a bid to finance trades 7.3%
takeover below offer
price
May 2 Musk seeks to get more external Falls 0.8%
investors next
session;
trades ~10%
below offer
price
May 5 Musk discloses $7.14 billion Rises 4.4%;
funding; sources tell Reuters Musk trades 5.5%
could temporarily lead Twitter below offer
after deal closes price
May 11 Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey Falls ~6%
says he will not return as CEO if next
offered session;
trades 20%
below offer
price
May 13 Musk says Twitter deal on hold Drops 11%
pending review of spam and fake before
accounts. Later tweets he remains paring
committed to the deal losses;
trades 26%
below offer
price
May 25 Twitter investors vote against Rises ~6%
re-electing Elon Musk ally to next
board session;
trades 27%
Musk pledges more equity to fund below offer
Twitter deal, scraps margin loan price
May 26 Musk sued by Twitter investors for Rises ~6%;
stock 'manipulation' during trades 27%
takeover bid below offer
price
May 27 The SEC looks into Musk's Twitter Rises 1%;
stake purchase trades 26%
below offer
price
June 6 Musk threatens to walk away from Drops 4%;
the deal if Twitter fails to trades 29%
provide data on spam and fake below offer
accounts price
July 8 Musk says he is terminating the Falls 7% in
deal as Twitter breached extended
provisions of the merger agreement trading
July 10 Twitter hires U.S. law firm Drops 11%
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz LLP the next
as it prepares to sue Musk day; trades
40% below
offer price
July 11 Twitter fires back at Musk, Climbs ~5%
accusing him of "knowingly" the day
breaching an agreement to buy it after;
trades ~36%
below
offer price
July 12 Twitter sues Musk for violating Climbs 1.4%
his $44-billion deal the next
day in
premarket
trading
July 15 Musk files a motion opposing Rises
Twitter's request to speed up a ~6%next
trial over his plan to terminate day; trades
the deal ~29% below
offer price
July 19 Twitter will get an October trial Climbs over
in its legal fight to hold Musk to 5%; trades
his $44 billion takeover 25% below
offer price
July 22 Twitter blames battle with Musk Closes
and weakening digital ad market about 1%
for surprise fall in Q2 revenue higher
and loss
July 29 Musk confidentially countersues Falls 2.7%
Twitter, escalating his legal the next
fight against the company over his day; trades
bid to walk away from the deal ~25% below
offer price
August 4 Twitter rejects Musk's claims in a Rises ~4%
Delaware court filing that he was the next
hoodwinked into signing the deal, day; trades
saying it was "implausible and ~22% below
contrary to fact" offer price
August 6 Musk says if Twitter could provide Rises about
method of sampling 100 accounts 1% next
and how it confirmed the accounts session;
are real, his deal should proceed trades ~21%
below offer
price
August 9 Musk sells $6.9 billion worth of Rises 4.1%
shares in Tesla saying the funds the next
could be used to finance a day; trades
potential Twitter deal if he loses 18% below
the legal battle offer price
August 23 A whistleblower complaint by Falls 7.4%;
former Twitter head of security 26.4% below
Peiter "Mudge" Zatko becomes offer price
public. It alleges the company
misled regulators and investors
about security and data privacy
September Delaware judge Kathaleen McCormick (NYSE:MKC) Rise 6.7%
7 allows Musk to add the the next
whistleblower claims to his day; trade
countersuit against Twitter but 24% below
denied request to delay the trial offer price
October 4 Musk proposes to go ahead with his Shares
original offer of $54.20 per share surge up to
to take Twitter private, according 17.5%
to two sources before
paring
gains
October 5 Apollo Global Shares fall
Management and Sixth Street ~4% the
Partners are no longer in talks next day,
with Musk to finance Twitter deal, trade 9%
according to sources below offer
price
Judge halts Twitter
October 6 lawsuit vs Musk until Oct. 28 to Shares
permit deal closing nearly flat
the next
day; trade
~9% below
offer price
Musk is under federal
October investigations, Twitter says in Shares
13 court filing nearly flat
the next
day; trade
~7% below
offer price
October 25 Musk informs Shares rise
co-investors he plans to close ~3%; trade
Twitter deal by Oct. 28, according ~2% below
to a source offer price
October 27 Musk begins his
Twitter ownership with firings, Shares
declares the 'bird is freed' trade
slightly
higher
premarket
the next
day