Elon Musk: Officially a fraud and piece of shit. Official or unofficial war criminal?

[52-80 19274]

1 minute ago, Trey3216 said:

Is that what @NowThis was so adamant about??? 

It was only a semantic misunderstanding that led to his hasty exile from here

[52-80 19274]

Also that crazy bitch Cathy sounded even crazier when she first issued the $4000 price target, but that was presplit meaning Tesla exceeded it at ~$5000 pre-split right now. 

[Homercles 10206]

On 4/19/2022 at 1:45 PM, Grade of D as in David said:

Yeah it wouldn't shock me at all to hear that he has jars of piss stored at home

[52-80 19274]

Gauntlet dropped.  (Dated 4/20 of course).  New filing outlining sources of capital for the privatization offer.

Consisting of: existing equity, borrowing against TSLA, and more.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001494730/000110465922048128/

Note that he can also borrow against current (or future) stake in Twitter since it generates decent cash flow to support the loan

 

 

[Brothahorn 10087]

I've been somewhat hoping this would be the case.  Bump up my investments with his 20% buyout and then let that money get put into things that are growing...
$TWTR is trading in the same range today as it was on Day 1.  It had the big jump last January, which pretty much makes it a meme stock.
From an investment standpoint, TWTR is crap.  Let Musk have it and his fanclub can stay on board.  My 28 followers won't care... we'll just move to the next MySpaceRedditFaceGramTok.

I'm making an offer for BlackPlanet.com. You want in?

If Bezos can have WAPO, what's the big deal with Elon and twitter? If you don't like the owner, don't use it.

[We’reTexas 1473]

2 hours ago, 52-80 said:

Gauntlet dropped.  (Dated 4/20 of course).  New filing outlining sources of capital for the privatization offer.

Consisting of: existing equity, borrowing against TSLA, and more.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001494730/000110465922048128/

Note that he can also borrow against current (or future) stake in Twitter since it generates decent cash flow to support the loan

 

 

I’m not so sure. I took a quick look at the docs and he clearly contemplated signing up existing investors (and management?!) to the equity commitment, but he doesn’t have anything yet (and if he did, he should have filed those docs). It’s also unclear where his own cash would come from. So I may have missed it, but it looks like he still has some work to do. 
 

Edit: I’d add that he also clearly contemplates acquiring 50.1% of the company and approving the deal himself, so maybe this is the first step in pressuring investors to get in to preserve their power in the deal. But Elliott and Silver Lake won’t roll over easily. 

Edited April 21, 2022 by We’reTexas

[52-80 19274]

54 minutes ago, We’reTexas said:

I’m not so sure. I took a quick look at the docs and he clearly contemplated signing up existing investors (and management?!) to the equity commitment, but he doesn’t have anything yet (and if he did, he should have filed those docs).

To finance the Proposed Transaction or a Potential Offer, entities related to the Reporting Person have received commitment letters committing to provide an aggregate of approximately $46.5 billion as follows:

 

(i) A debt commitment letter, dated April 20, 2022 (the “Debt Commitment Letter”), from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. and certain other financial institutions party thereto...

 

 

 

[We’reTexas 1473]

6 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

To finance the Proposed Transaction or a Potential Offer, entities related to the Reporting Person have received commitment letters committing to provide an aggregate of approximately $46.5 billion as follows:

 

(i) A debt commitment letter, dated April 20, 2022 (the “Debt Commitment Letter”), from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. and certain other financial institutions party thereto...

 

 

 

Yes, those are commitment letters. Did you actually read them? $21B is from an equity commitment, which is literally Elon committing $21B to himself. Does he have that cash? Matt Levine touched on this exact issue this morning, btw, and it looks like he may. Does he want to spend all his cash? I don’t know, but if you read the exhibits to the debt commitment letters and the equity commitment letter, they clearly contemplate rollover equity and new money from existing holders. The financing commitment letter references a draft OTP shared with the lenders yesterday, so he’s technically ready to go. But it’s not clear if he wants to go with the current financing arrangement. 

Edited April 21, 2022 by We’reTexas

[Nice Guy Eddie 13530]

Outside of a big f-u, I don't see why Elon is making such a big deal out of this.  Now I wonder if he won't go through with this solely because some questioned if he could/would secure financing to do so.

He's basically leveraging SpaceX and Tesla's future to buy a social media platform that doesn't make money. Weird.

[52-80 19274]

23 minutes ago, We’reTexas said:

Yes, those are commitment letters. Did you actually read them? $21B is from an equity commitment, which is literally Elon committing $21B to himself. Does he have that cash? Matt Levine touched on this exact issue this morning, btw, and it looks like he may. Does he want to spend all his cash? I don’t know, but if you read the exhibits to the debt commitment letters and the equity commitment letter, they clearly contemplate rollover equity and new money from existing holders. The financing commitment letter references a draft OTP shared with the lenders yesterday, so he’s technically ready to go. But it’s not clear if he wants to go with the current financing arrangement. 

Exhibit E is a commitment from X Holdings, which is an Elon entity.  Does he/it have this cash?  Question was raised before in this thread, can't believe it's still asked: his gain from TSLA today alone is double-digit billions (~200M shares * $100 intraday high...or $50 now), should he monetize that. 

There's a difference between a "funding secured" tweet vs this filing.  The veracity of his commitment shouldn't be questioned at this point. 

If you're existing shareholder, why wouldn't you want to roll in with a guy with the Midas touch?

Silver Lake worked with Elon in the past, so they are not adversarial.  Elliott tried to muscle Twitter before.  There's nothing that indicates they would refuse to work with him.

 

 

20 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

He's basically leveraging SpaceX and Tesla's future to buy a social media platform that doesn't make money. Weird.

Selling single-digit ownership of TSLA does not impact its business.  Also, they just had a blowout quarter last night, and are now on their way to credit upgrade from S&P.  Company is uber strong.

[Slacks 6898]

2 hours ago, Brothahorn said:

 

 

I'm making an offer for BlackPlanet.com. You want in?

If Bezos can have WAPO, what's the big deal with Elon and twitter? If you don't like the owner, don't use it.

 

hell, yes I want in... BP is full of freaks!

I don't read WAPO... I have figured out how to find likable crap on Twitter...  I don't care who owns it, really...

As for Elon, I think SpaceX is amazing... Tesla is great, but not worth 200x...  Twitter isn't an engineering project... well, social engineering, I guess.

 

[Brisketexan 105478]

26 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

If you're existing shareholder, why wouldn't you want to roll in with a guy with the Midas touch?

Midas touch regarding tech transportation device businesses (cars, space) does not translate to Midas touch at everything.  Not even close.

I wouldn't want Elon taking over my restaurant chain, or entertainment business, etc.  Same reason I don't want the greatest heart surgeon in the world to run my airline.

Twitter is a social media company, built on a platform of human engagement.  So, yeah, I'd have some questions about letting someone on the spectrum run the show.  But that's just me. 

[52-80 19274]

6 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Midas touch regarding tech transportation device businesses (cars, space) does not translate to Midas touch at everything.  Not even close.

I wouldn't want Elon taking over my restaurant chain, or entertainment business, etc.  Same reason I don't want the greatest heart surgeon in the world to run my airline.

Twitter is a social media company, built on a platform of human engagement.  So, yeah, I'd have some questions about letting someone on the spectrum run the show.  But that's just me. 

Musk isn't sitting on his phone moderating your individual posts.  Just like Gordon Ramsay doesn't cook at the 100 restaurant he's affiliated with.  It's about the halo effect from name association.

He's done finance/payments, communications, manufacturing/scaling (=tsla), and hyperniche private govt contracting (=spacex), so I'd say his actual breadth is a bit wider than "tech transport".  And obviously he doesn't handscrew the bolts himself, the successes of those business would have been to build the organization that does the work, which would be the playbook for Twitter.

[Brisketexan 105478]

2 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

Musk isn't sitting on his phone moderating your individual posts.  Just like Gordon Ramsay doesn't cook at the 100 restaurant he's affiliated with.  It's about the halo effect from name association.

He's done finance/payments, communications, manufacturing/scaling (=tsla), and hyperniche private govt contracting (=spacex), so I'd say his actual breadth is a bit wider than "tech transport".  And obviously he doesn't handscrew the bolts himself, the successes of those business would have been to build the organization that does the work, which would be the playbook for Twitter.

You're just ascribing the attributes of "he's got brand power," and "he's built successful business organizations in the past."  Sorry, business type matters.  Your evaluation might as well just be "Elon is a business god, and gods can do no wrong."  I sure as shit wouldn't invest in something based on that.

[We’reTexas 1473]

38 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

Exhibit E is a commitment from X Holdings, which is an Elon entity.  Does he/it have this cash?  Question was raised before in this thread, can't believe it's still asked: his gain from TSLA today alone is double-digit billions (~200M shares * $100 intraday high...or $50 now), should he monetize that. 

There's a difference between a "funding secured" tweet vs this filing.  The veracity of his commitment shouldn't be questioned at this point. 

If you're existing shareholder, why wouldn't you want to roll in with a guy with the Midas touch?

Silver Lake worked with Elon in the past, so they are not adversarial.  Elliott tried to muscle Twitter before.  There's nothing that indicates they would refuse to work with him.

 

Look, his equity commitment is just a piece of paper until he launches a tender. If he can access that cash on his own, it will involve selling a significant amount of stock that will drive TSLA down. And he’d also be on the hook for $1B in annual debt services.  That doesn’t seem to be his ideal plan, as he has been shopping for equity commitments and by all accounts having trouble: in particular, BX, Vista and Brookfield have turned him down. So much for the Midas touch. SL (which by all accounts only advised him on the TSLA go-private) and Elliott are now adversarial. Their entire history of operating indicates they will protect their interests as stubbornly as possible. We’re about a fund that tried seize an Argentine battleship as collateral, after all. I don’t care either way what Elon does, I’m just trying to point out that just because he ostensibly has financing doesn’t mean he has Twitter’s board bent over. 

[Brothahorn 10087]

hell, yes I want in... BP is full of freaks!
I don't read WAPO... I have figured out how to find likable crap on Twitter...  I don't care who owns it, really...
As for Elon, I think SpaceX is amazing... Tesla is great, but not worth 200x...  Twitter isn't an engineering project... well, social engineering, I guess.
 

BP was the shit back. Wish I could remember my login to see all the crazy shit from back then.

The 2nd part of my post was just random pondering.

[52-80 19274]

1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:

You're just ascribing the attributes of "he's got brand power," and "he's built successful business organizations in the past."  Sorry, business type matters.  Your evaluation might as well just be "Elon is a business god, and gods can do no wrong."  I sure as shit wouldn't invest in something based on that.

Brand power is half of the cake.  The other half is execution - which he's also proven, across different business types.  The investors will decide whether that matters, so we'll both see soon enough.

 

1 minute ago, We’reTexas said:

Look, his equity commitment is just a piece of paper until he launches a tender. If he can access that cash on his own, it will involve selling a significant amount of stock that will drive TSLA down. And he’d also be on the hook for $1B in annual debt services. 

He sold some ~$10B worth of stock literally a few months ago.  VWAP was about the same $1050 price it is today, so (1) no, doesnt seem to harm the price  and (2) the price has nothing to do with TSLA's ability to operate -- they don't need to raise equity. 

TSLA is sitting on 17B cash against 3B of debt, adding +2B of FCF per quarter, and can fully fund capex.  And should they need to raise, they're about to get a credit upgrade.

Lastly, Twitter generates $1B free cash annually.  Yeah, I think that debt is serviceable.

[Brisketexan 105478]

4 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

Brand power is half of the cake.  The other half is execution - which he's also proven, across different business types.  The investors will decide whether that matters, so we'll both see soon enough.

Yeah, I'm very, very wary of the cult of "Business Genius."  I remember the days when people fellated Jack Welch, for example.  But again, maybe that's just me.  I've seen this shit before.  And I have SURE AS SHIT seen "Business Genius at X" fail at Business Venture Y.  The business type matters.

[Foosters 17895]

I also remember when Elon confidently predicted that the US would have zero covid cases by April, 2020, and despite experts, doctors, and the medical community disagreeing, many people - including several posters here - promoted his opinion as fact.

[52-80 19274]

5 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Yeah, I'm very, very wary of the cult of "Business Genius."  I remember the days when people fellated Jack Welch, for example.  But again, maybe that's just me.  I've seen this shit before.  And I have SURE AS SHIT seen "Business Genius at X" fail at Business Venture Y.  The business type matters.

JW worked for 1 company for 40 years.  Well, 1 company that did 40 things, but still. 

[Brisketexan 105478]

Just now, 52-80 said:

JW worked for 1 company for 40 years.  Well, 1 company that did 40 things, but still. 

Yep.  But the point remains that he was revered as a god, and it turns out he wasn't.

Putting so much faith in one man has always been folly, and it remains so today.  Elon has been wrong about a SHITLOAD of stuff that's outside his wheelhouse.  I see the overwhelming amount of faith in him as folly, and I've seen it before.

[52-80 19274]

3 minutes ago, Foosters said:

I also remember when Elon confidently predicted that the US would have zero covid cases by April, 2020, and despite experts, doctors, and the medical community disagreeing, many people - including several posters here - promoted his opinion as fact.

On month #0 since the WHO declared a Pandemic. 

On month #21 we had someone else predicted a "winter of severe illness and death", too.  

Both of these are very relevant to twitter's acquisition.

[phdhorn 6224]

14 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

Brand power is half of the cake.  The other half is execution - which he's also proven, across different business types.  The investors will decide whether that matters, so we'll both see soon enough.

He does know his shit in financials.  He knew that he had a huge bonus rider with Tesla that's about to release.  From the Financial Times (behind paywall; also, bolded mine):
 

The margin loan to fund a Twitter bid requires a pledge of nearly 59m Tesla shares, or about 85 per cent of Musk’s total stake. His remaining unpledged stock is worth about $25bn at current prices so if sold, and allowing for an overhang discount, there would be just enough to cover the cash component of the offer. It’s a big ask.

But such calculations ignore a big event looming in the Muskonomy: the final payout from Tesla’s 2018 bonus scheme. Musk’s last awards will unlock shortly, assuming board approval, and will carry a five-year selling lockup.

Each of the three tranches due Musk give him the right to buy 8.4m Tesla shares at $70, a more than 99 per cent discount to the prevailing market level. So, based on a $1,061 share price at pixel time, Musk could buy Tesla stock worth $25.4bn for about $588m. Factor in those shares and the margin loan financing looks a bit less onerous.

He's got this.  Not sure if even this will get him past it but he also has a Plan D from what I understand.

[Foosters 17895]

Just now, 52-80 said:

On month #0 since the WHO declared a Pandemic. 

On month #21 we had someone else predicted a "winter of severe illness and death", too.  

Both of these are very relevant to twitter's acquisition.

Huh? We're discussing the tendency to overrate Musk's acumen in all fields because he has shown success in others. The fact that many took his covid tweet as reliable - despite no medical background whatsoever - highlights that fact. I'm not trying to rehash the entire covid debate here.

[Brisketexan 105478]

3 minutes ago, Foosters said:

Huh? We're discussing the tendency to overrate Musk's acumen in all fields because he has shown success in others. The fact that many took his covid tweet as reliable - despite no medical background whatsoever - highlights that fact.

This.  The illustration is for that reason.

My heart surgeon knows a lot about certain things.  He may even be a good manager of his medical practice on the business side.  I'm still not making him CEO of my airline.

[52-80 19274]

3 minutes ago, Foosters said:

Huh? We're discussing the tendency to overrate Musk's acumen in all fields because he has shown success in others. The fact that many took his covid tweet as reliable - despite no medical background whatsoever - highlights that fact. I'm not trying to rehash the entire covid debate here.

Which of the fields mentioned so far has virology in its scope, for which he's praised and by whom, as an acumen relevant in a takeover bid for a microblogging service.

[52-80 19274]

3 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

This.  The illustration is for that reason.

My heart surgeon knows a lot about certain things.  He may even be a good manager of his medical practice on the business side.  I'm still not making him CEO of my airline.

Way off tangent now, but the greatest airline CEO of all time was a practicing lawyer...

[Brisketexan 105478]

Just now, 52-80 said:

Way off tangent now, but the greatest airline CEO of all time was a practicing lawyer...

Yep.  Some folks can have a hit.  A lot can have a miss.  I just don't buy into the cult of Elon.  He's good at what he's done.  I don't see any reason to extrapolate that to significantly different businesses.  But I don't do cults of personality.

[52-80 19274]

2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Yep.  Some folks can have a hit.  A lot can have a miss.  I just don't buy into the cult of Elon.  He's good at what he's done.  I don't see any reason to extrapolate that to significantly different businesses.  But I don't do cults of personality.

The thing about cults is you don't have to participate for them to exist.  With respect to the topic, what's germane is whether other investors and business partners believe in his Midas touch.  He's already got 10+ banks committed to this venture, with a deal deadline early next month, so the final resolution is ticking down..

[Brisketexan 105478]

1 minute ago, 52-80 said:

The thing about cults is you don't have to participate for them to exist.  With respect to the topic, what's germane is whether other investors and business partners believe in his Midas touch.  He's already got 10+ banks committed to this venture, with a deal deadline early next month, so the final resolution is ticking down..

Sure.  That means he might be able to accomplish the purchase.  But it doesn't mean the second thing: that he'll be able to run Twitter worth a shit.  Granted, Twitter's current management has set that bar super-low, but "better than super shitty" doesn't = "great."

[Slacks 6898]

I feel confident Elon will accomplish his goal if he takes Twitter private...  

I don't feel confident any of us know what his goal is.

 

[Brisketexan 105478]

4 minutes ago, Snacks said:

I feel confident Elon will accomplish his goal if he takes Twitter private...  

I don't feel confident any of us know what his goal is.

 

Well, he already checked the "hook up with Cara Delenvigne and Amber Heard at the same time" box, so what goal could be left?

[52-80 19274]

6 minutes ago, Snacks said:

I feel confident Elon will accomplish his goal if he takes Twitter private...  

I don't feel confident any of us know what his goal is.

 

gonna turn it into zombo.com 2.0

[NoName 16423]

16 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Sure.  That means he might be able to accomplish the purchase.  But it doesn't mean the second thing: that he'll be able to run Twitter worth a shit.  Granted, Twitter's current management has set that bar super-low, but "better than super shitty" doesn't = "great."

see, this is a key point here. can he buy TWTR? sure

can he run it well? doubtful based on his current time allocation.

can he hire good people? i am sure, but the man has a very, very, very long track record of running off well qualified executives and not letting them do their own thing.

...of all the ways to get a return on his money, this seems like one that is going to take up a huge chunk of his money, take up a huge chunk of his time and doesn't really offer fantastic rewards...while distracting him from his actual stated goals for both TSLA and SpaceX.

 

Edited April 21, 2022 by NoName

[MrBig 5472]

11 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Well, he already checked the "hook up with Cara Delenvigne and Amber Heard at the same time" box, so what goal could be left?

To suck up all the water in the world for his Gigafactories without having people bitch about it by posting online. 

[rpspeed 1403]

32 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

gonna turn it into zombo.com 2.0

You can do anything at Zombocom, anything at all

[AeroHorn 774]

I could be wrong, but just as the "rich people are driving Priuses because they don't want to pollute" was an epiphany to justify/start Tesla, I think he sees the Facebook/Twitter rut in social sphere as an interesting stage to fundamentally alter it. His other ventures have all been primarily driven from identifying problems in existing markets (SpaceX, Boring Company, NuraLink) rather than a great solution looking for a market, which is the typical R&D thing. 

At the time and in retrospect, the reasons for his companies make sense, even the Boring Company with its promise of significantly faster drilling to flip what it means to add traffic lanes, but he hasn't been clear on Twitter except for vague notions of free speech. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he sees a compelling problem that needs to be addressed, with the solution being still unknown. His personality will drive the creation of the solution.

To @Brisketexan 's point, he is not a traditional CEO that one has to worry about fitting into a new business; he is a problem identifier and resource driver to address it. If we he were a traditional business head, none of his businesses would have survived, let alone thrived.

Edited April 21, 2022 by AeroHorn

[ChickenSandwich 9856]

13 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

If he acquires Twitter and makes it a subscription service or otherwise introduced some kind of in-app purchase options, he’d probably make plenty of money off of it - at least for a while. I think he’s already tweeted a while back asking what people would think of that.  The fact that everyone gets to use Twitter for free has clearly dawned on him as a peculiarity.  

Nobody ever actually moves over to Gab or Truth Social or any other alternative that pops up when someone gets pissed off at Twitter.  There’s enough inertia that they could probably fleece people for a while if they kept a low enough price point for Twitter users.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/helenpopkin/2018/10/30/elon-musks-twitter-account-is-teslas-40-million-marketing-platform-worth-it/amp/
 

Elon Musk's Twitter Account Is Tesla's $40 Million Marketing Platform. 'Worth It'
Tesla’s primary platform of news and promotion is Elon Musk’s Twitter account. Think about it. You’ve never seen a Tesla speeding on a winding mountain road in a TV commercial, its virtues extolled by an unbilled Jon Hamm voiceover. You’ve never heard a radio ad offering to “get you in a Tesla! Today!” There’s no social media strategy attempting on-brand Tesla memes tied into whatever weird thing just happened at the Super Bowl. Yet one significantly random tweet from Musk receives infinite news coverage beyond social media, reaching even those who prefer real life over their cellphones. Consider that $40 million the cost of a top-tier Silicon Valley marketing team that Tesla doesn’t have. Otherwise, Twitter is free.

[MrBig 5472]

6 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

If he acquires Twitter and makes it a subscription service or otherwise introduced some kind of in-app purchase options, he’d probably make plenty of money off of it - at least for a while. I think he’s already tweeted a while back asking what people would think of that.  The fact that everyone gets to use Twitter for free has clearly dawned on him as a peculiarity.  

Nobody ever actually moves over to Gab or Truth Social or any other alternative that pops up when someone gets pissed off at Twitter.  There’s enough inertia that they could probably fleece people for a while if they kept a low enough price point for Twitter users.

Why create exclusivity with a subscription service when you can just whore yourself out to Russian ad buyers and keep all the revenue? Elon wants to control an entity that has the power and revenue Zuck generates with Facebook.

Elon has an actual product with his electric cars. All Zuck does is control a huge part of the internet via Facebook & Instagram. Zuck doesn’t have to deal with the logistics involved with producing a tangible product the way Tesla does with its factories.  

I can’t imagine what Elon would be doing if he had the same control over the Internet in terms of generating revenue (unrelated to a product) that Zuck has.

[We’reTexas 1473]

1 hour ago, 52-80 said:

The thing about cults is you don't have to participate for them to exist.  With respect to the topic, what's germane is whether other investors and business partners believe in his Midas touch.  He's already got 10+ banks committed to this venture, with a deal deadline early next month, so the final resolution is ticking down..

Where are you getting some sort of May deadline? He has until April 25 to actually sign the bank commitments (because it looks like he hasn’t). And if he does, the outside date for a deal is in October. And again, there is no allure of a Midas touch here - the banks will have a first lien on all of Twitter. Elon still has to get the board to take him seriously. 

[We’reTexas 1473]

2 hours ago, 52-80 said:

 

He sold some ~$10B worth of stock literally a few months ago.  VWAP was about the same $1050 price it is today, so (1) no, doesnt seem to harm the price  and (2) the price has nothing to do with TSLA's ability to operate -- they don't need to raise equity. 

 

This is actually an interesting problem. He sold $10B under his 10b5-1 over the course of two months to minimize impact on the stock. If he sold $10B in one day, that would depress the stock, and as Tesla’s CEO and largest holder I’d figure he’d consider the impact to its shareholders and market cap. I’m not a trader, but I wonder if that’s even possible. 
 

Presumably, given his record of holding TSLA, he’d want to wait until he has certainty the deal will close before liquidating. Assuming he can even do that in a short period and is fine with the impact, there’s the issue of whether he’s in Tesla’s blackout period or otherwise has MNPI. The more practical option is to enter into a new 10b5-1 right now since Tesla’s window just opened. But if the deal falls through, he’d have sold $20B of his company for nothing - would he be ok with that? Maybe you can structure the 10b5 to increase volume in connection with the launch of a tender offer? I don’t know. But that’s the practical problem he faces going it alone. 

[NoName 16423]

49 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

Facebook and Instagram both have much, much more daily active users than Twitter.  And they’re constantly struggling with trying to fend off the latest hot new thing like TikTok and whatever comes after it.

I don’t think Twitter is analogous to those, nor would it be a good idea to chase that dragon.  Twitter already relies on advertising to make money.  It needs to expand on that. 

woah, i did not realize how far down the list twitter was. TWTR is slightly behind fucking PINTEREST and only slightly ahead of Reddit.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users

[texasdago 7589]

Gen-Z rags on FB and yet look at that user count.  Its huge globally.  

[tbone_ 14211]

And it owns WhatsApp and Instagram.
Twitter is given more weight in society than it deserves.  It’s more of niche platform than many people realize, yet we act like it reflects mainstream society.  We would find it laughable if the national news constantly ran segments on “Here’s what Reddit users have to say about ____” or “Here’s what’s trending on Telegram.”

This is true. And that free media coverage got a president elected. /no cr

[Brisketexan 105478]

3 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

We would find it laughable if the national news constantly ran segments on “Here’s what Reddit users have to say about ____” or “Here’s what’s trending on Telegram.”

However, if every evening they ran segments on "man, have you seen this Onlyfans?", viewership would, ummmm, increase.

[Slacks 6898]

2 hours ago, longhornmatt said:

If he acquires Twitter and makes it a subscription service or otherwise introduced some kind of in-app purchase options, he’d probably make plenty of money off of it - at least for a while. I think he’s already tweeted a while back asking what people would think of that.  The fact that everyone gets to use Twitter for free has clearly dawned on him as a peculiarity.  

Nobody ever actually moves over to Gab or Truth Social or any other alternative that pops up when someone gets pissed off at Twitter.  There’s enough inertia that they could probably fleece people for a while if they kept a low enough price point for Twitter users.

Twitter will become an elite thing... The rest of us will bolt to whatever FB comes up with...  I won't go to FB, but I'm not paying for Twitter... In app purchases are fine, I suppose. 

[wood 11303]

3 hours ago, Snacks said:

Twitter will become an elite thing... The rest of us will bolt to whatever FB comes up with...  I won't go to FB, but I'm not paying for Twitter... In app purchases are fine, I suppose. 

Yeah, I've been a pretty big twittr user, but there's zero chance I'd ever pay for it, esp with Musk as the owner.

[TKthunder2 5010]

9 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Midas touch regarding tech transportation device businesses (cars, space) does not translate to Midas touch at everything.  Not even close.

I wouldn't want Elon taking over my restaurant chain, or entertainment business, etc.  Same reason I don't want the greatest heart surgeon in the world to run my airline.

Twitter is a social media company, built on a platform of human engagement.  So, yeah, I'd have some questions about letting someone on the spectrum run the show.  But that's just me. 

Plenty of things to criticize Elon about but saying someone on the spectrum that’s made billions leading other companies can’t run one because it’s social is an ignorant statement.

[TriStone 1724]

7 hours ago, 52-80 said:

gonna turn it into zombo.com 2.0

The infinite is possible.  The unattainable is unknown.

[Vegas64 678]

1 hour ago, TKthunder2 said:

Plenty of things to criticize Elon about but saying someone on the spectrum that’s made billions leading other companies can’t run one because it’s social is an ignorant statement.

Agree that was a really bad take. But then again, if lawyers knew anything about business, they wouldn't practice law for the scraps they do for a living.