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this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2024
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We knew this was going to happen before he made the purchase.
Everyone said, the best way for Elon to keep his money was to change very little, or even take a hands-off approach.
Masnick suggested this would happen
It was that and so much worse. Moral of the story: Running a huge social media service is hard. Maybe don't assume that because you're a billionaire you're the best at doing stuff.
"Maybe don't assume that because you're a billionaire you're the best at doing stuff."
This is literally every second generation billionaire. They seem to have the tendency to believe that their success is solely due to their intelligence and not at all due to their parents' connections and money.
I mean the people at Twitter were very happy to sell it off. Remember how they actually sued to force him to go through with the deal and succeeded in stopping him from backing out?
Even if he’d managed it as well as the prior stewards, it was always a losing business.
If the price offered is actually a good price then I think they might have some obligation to shareholders to pursue it. (Many of the people making that decision likely also being shareholders.) Like if someone offered you more than what your stuff is worth but tried to changed their mind, wouldn't you pursue that? I don't think that's any sort of indicator that they thought it was a sinking ship. It's just in their best interest to take a good deal when they get one.
I think you make a good point. But we don’t have to guess whether they thought Twitter was struggling. We know it was.
Source: CNBC
My point is that if someone offers you a good price for what you believe you have have, you take it. If they thought it was good and they got a good price for it they'd take it. If they thought it was bad and they got a good price for it they'd take it.
Yes I did read your comment before :)
You’re saying that accepting his offer is not necessarily a statement of low confidence in their own business. I get you.
But we can’t separate the notion of it being a good price apart from its being a bad business. It was a great offer in part because the business was so poor. By all estimates he vastly overpaid.
So yes, it was a good price.
And yes, it was a bad business and yes they knew it. With no other offers on the table, they pulled out all the stops to ensure it went through. It was their and their shareholders only chance for a payday with the business as bleak as it was.
All of these things are true.
Meanwhile he is on track to become the world's first trillionaire
I think the purchase was more about welding power than any financial gain
He tried to back out, I don't think any of this was about anything. He's just a dick with a weird sense of humor.
First step to becoming a billionaire: start with 1 trillion
Now, call me crazy, but if I was optimizing for maximum welding power, I'd start with oxy acetylene and at least try a few other options. How would buying a website even be a good start?
No wonder people are making fun of him!
He needs all the welding power he can get to keep the Tesla's held together
Hasn't his wealth kinda flatlined lately though? X is doing terribly, Tesla is struggling a bit, I think SpaceX is at least doing well.
I don't think he's going to be a trillionaire any time soon.
Would you not agree that he has a tool of influence with X? I see that as the main aspect of why you'd still buy twitter, even though he knew he wouldn't earn money with that.
Masnick gives 20 levels of development. Elon stopped here:
And that's about it. Ex-Twitter has copyright infringement, hate speech and doesn't give a fuck about local laws unless the law actually has teeth (Brasil, anybody?).
and then he fires trust and safety and it gets riddled and plagued with csam
I mean, yeah we all knew he overpaid, but losing over 75%? I didn't expect that.
Twitter wasn't profitable right? So most of the "value" is in the name of the product. Elon changed the name and added his signature to everything the platform was doing, completely changing the platform Twitter is. So yeah, I do get why 75% of the money is gone now.
Changing the name of one of the most valuable brands isn't something I'd expect even him to do.
Masnick's post is well put, but also a disturbing reminder of how much power nation-states can exert over the Internet.
The way to make it hurt is to establish a replacement that keeps discussions away from trolls and hate propaganda.