![]() Q: Does this mean Donald Trump will be allowed back on the platform? As such, Musk is going to have to make some tough decisions: Does he allow unmitigated free speech, which will obviously lead to more vitriol and negativity on Twitter, and likely slow any user growth, or does he push the dial in the other direction to try and get new users to sign up? I think he’s going to find this challenge more difficult than rocket science. That’s worked wonders for Musk getting attention, but most people don’t like the constant negativity on the platform. ![]() Musk is the king of Twitter, and he is (next to Donald Trump when he was on the platform) the number one shit-stirrer on there. But yes, barring a black hole ending life as we know it, it looks like he’s going to own Twitter by the end of the year.Ī: You know the saying that you sometimes see in a shop window, “You break it, you buy it”? That’s a pretty good analogy to what’s going on here. It’s clear he doesn’t want to go through with it, but it’s also clear he might not have a choice. That doesn’t mean Musk won’t still try to find a way out of this deal, though. But now he’s definitely buying the company, right?Ī: Maybe? Probably? Yes? One banker I spoke to said the only scenario where Musk doesn’t have to buy Twitter is if a black hole swallows earth or the planet is destroyed by a meteor. On top of that, according to bankers I’ve spoken to, he would have possibly been barred from running a public company, which would have seen him lose control of Tesla. ![]() Finally, if Musk had lost the case and been forced to buy Twitter, but still refused, he would have potentially faced hefty fines. If the writing was on the wall that he was likely to lose, then it made more sense to just get it over with sooner rather than later, as it would obviously cost him less money. If the stock had continued to fall (which it has) and he’d then lost his case and been forced to buy Twitter, he would have needed to sell more Tesla stock to make up the difference, a surely unfavorable outcome. Second, Tesla’s latest quarterly results were lower than Wall Street’s expectations, which made the stock fall precipitously. First, if Musk had been forced to testify, he would have been asked questions related to Tesla and SpaceX, and could have been put in a situation that would force him to reveal how he runs both companies-and their deepest, darkest secrets-on the stand. In short, it seems to come down to three things. The judge in the case ruled (mostly in favor of Twitter), and Musk was about to be deposed when he decided he probably should actually buy Twitter.Ī: It depends whom you ask-and trust me, I’ve asked a lot of people. But mergers and acquisitions don’t work like that. This is a waste of time.” And then: “Will make an offer to take Twitter private.” Cut to a few months later-when Musk realized he didn’t really want to own the most controversial company in Silicon Valley-and he pulled out of the deal. This, in turn, sent Musk into such a tizzy that he quipped: “I’m not joining the board. In short, Musk was about to join the board of Twitter, but in typical Musk fashion, he was still throwing bombs at the company and tweeted, “Is Twitter dying?” This pissed off Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s 89th CEO (just kidding), who told Musk to stop. First Musk wants to buy Twitter, then Musk doesn’t want to buy Twitter, and then Musk does want to buy it again?Ī: Trust me, you should be confused! But here goes: Two weeks ago, in the lead-up to his trial against Twitter, hundreds of text messages between Musk and VCs, CEOs, and fanboys in Silicon Valley revealed how the deal came to be. So here’s my best attempt at answering these questions-somewhat intelligently. People don’t know if the Twitter deal will actually go through, or, if it does, what Musk will do with the company after he buys it, or…how the entire saga will even come to an end. But when it comes to Elon Musk and the sale of Twitter, there have been a million bottles of ink spilled on the topic ( a few of them by me), and yet there’s still not a lot of answers out there. As reporters descend on the topic at hand, calling experts and sources, and detailing what has happened and what will happen in the future, the story becomes clearer. When a news story breaks, whatever the news may be, the first few minutes or days around the event are often blurry and uncertain, with more questions than answers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |