As Elon Musk announces Twitter deal is on hold, a timeline of his bid

Elon Musk and Twitter had agreed on a $44 billion deal for the social network’s sale.

Elon Musk announced on May 13 that his deal with Twitter’s board to take over the social network had been temporarily put on hold.

His announcement came after Twitter revealed in an exchange filing that spam/fake accounts comprised just five percent of its monetisable daily active users. Musk had vowed to rid Twitter of “spam bots”.

“Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” Elon Musk said.

On the day of Musk’s big announcement, here is a look back on the timeline of his efforts to take over Twitter:

April 4: Musk’s stake in Twitter is made public

The billionaire reportedly started buying the company's shares in January and in the subsequent months, critiqued its policies several times. It was in April that Twitter revealed Musk had a stake in the company. He was invited to join Twitter's board.

April 9: Musk rejects a Twitter board seat 

Musk turned down the offer on the very same day he was scheduled to join the company's board. He had previously signaled that he would sign an agreement stating that he cannot own more than  14.9 percent of Twitter stock.

April 11: Musk's amended disclosure 

Musk could now buy as many Twitter shares as he wanted and filed a modified disclosure with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

April 14: He offers to buy Twitter

The billionaire boss of Tesla made a bid to take over Twitter for valued at $43 billion.

April 15: Twitter goes into defence mode

The company put into place a poison pill strategy to dilute his stake.

April 21: Musk secures funds

Musk said he had secured $46.5 billion to take over Twitter, including loans based on his Tesla equity stake.

April 24: Twitter talks to Musk 

After  Musk’s offered financing details, Twitter began discussing his offer offer more seriously.

April 25: Twitter announces deal with Musk

The board said Musk will take over the social network for approximately $44 billion.