Twitter CEO: Elon Musk
Musk's purchase of Twitter brings great challenges as we wait to see what the world's most erratic billionaire decides what to do next.
On April 9th, 2022, Elon Musk tweeted his intention to make a private offer to purchase Twitter after months of buying up the company’s stock. By April 14th, Musk let the world know he offered to buy the remaining shares of Twitter for $54.20 a share, which would ultimately be a $44B buyout. Twitter initially resisted this overpriced offer, adopting a “poison pill” defense, diluting Musk’s holdings. Ultimately, Twitter folded at the extreme overvaluation of $54.20 a share and accepted Musk’s bid to buy the company; in typical Musk fashion, he floundered on his commitment, tweeting that his deal was “temporarily on hold.” Soon after, Musk threatened to walk away from the deal over the presence of spam and fake bots on the platform, leading to his abandoning the deal. Twitter sued over this “bait-and-switch” tactic, and once the writing was on the wall in court, Musk reoffered to buy Twitter at his original offer price.
Unfortunately, I feel the need to write a piece on yet another ultra-wealthy person who will barge into any room believing they are the smartest person there. Fortunately for the rest of us, money does not equal intelligence, and the fact is that common sense is not so common. See Kanye West. Now that Musk owns the “public square” that is Twitter, his erratic behavior, mixed with his fragile ego, could cause problems down the line related to misinformation, elections, and other political happenings over which Twitter has a large part to play. His first week as CEO has been a bloodbath of firings, an end to remote work, break days, and a promise to cut 25% of Twitter employees. Given the circumstances of his purchase, it is reasonable to assume he did not have a plan for how to run it.
On occasion, Twitter has been a profitable company, although in recent years, has piled up losses. Twitter primarily makes money from advertisers (over 90%), and Musk’s way of making Twitter profitable appears to be Twitter Blue, which Musk is pushing under the guise of bringing “power to the people” and overhauling a “bullshit” system. Musk announced that Twitter may charge users $20 a month for a Twitter Blue subscription to keep or gain verified status on the platform. That was the case until a sharp turn (more erratic decision making) came from a reply to Stephen King’s disapproval of the plan highlighted below. The price was then reduced $8 a month, where it remains (for now). Twitter users have been relentless in their bullying tactics, and Musk’s fragile ego is feeling the pressure. He tweeted out a series of sarcastic memes defending his decision.
Twitter’s problem has always been its users; people post horrendous, brain-dead takes and fiercely argue points with zero merit. Pedophiles and Zoophiles openly parade around their disgusting beliefs while far-right fascists call for the death of elected officials. Progressives discuss ideologies irrelevant to society and problems that don’t exist. No CEO of Twitter will make these problems disappear, but Elon Musk could very well be the worst person to try and deal with them. Musk has shown he is wholly influenced by public opinion – what people say about him online. Although Musk has every reason to be a Republican (he is a very wealthy CEO), he still felt the need to declare his support for the party after liberals trashed him online. Note how this declaration does not mention any policy; it’s about kindness.
World leaders have taken notice of how easily random people on the internet sway Musk. Take a look at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy’s response after Musk tweeted polls regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine and spouted pro-Kremlin settlement points for the war's end. Zelensky’s response was not a direct response to any tweet, not a call to the United States or the release of an official statement from the government, just a poll to control the wealthiest man in the world; it worked. Musk replied and stated his support for Ukraine.
All of these recent events point to the conclusion that Twitter is in bad hands. Twitter’s previous leadership was by no means great, but it was not directly influenced by Twitter polls and did not side with groups because they were “nice” or “mean.” This isn’t kindergarten; when famous people do things, they will be criticized and praised by many; that isn’t a foundation to build policy from; it’s just life. Musk’s need to be liked; erratic behavior, unlimited money, and now boundless control over one the biggest social media platforms in the world leave the rest of us with an unpleasant truth: Twitter and its users are about to undergo consistent changes under the everchanging desires of a man with no plan.
TLDR Elon Musk is Twitter’s new owner. His history of erraticism and being easily manipulated spells trouble for one of the largest social media platforms in the world.