Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter

[George K]

Interesting take on how things went south - quickly.

Put the entire thing behind a paywall?

[Axtremus]

@George-K said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

Interesting take on how things went south - quickly.

Put the entire thing behind a paywall?

There is a chance that he may be doing the world a favor with this move.

[jon-nyc]

This is the right attitude

[Doctor Phibes]

[George K]

"Is Musk's ownership of Twitter a threat to national security."

Biden: "It's worth looking at."

(Democracy picture with red background here____________________)

[Copper]

What an idiot.

[Renauda]

[George K]

Ruh Roh...

[Doctor Phibes]

Seems like he’s trying to run a tech company like a Victorian cotton mill.

Somebody has blundered.

[George K]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

Seems like he’s trying to run a tech company like a Victorian cotton mill.

Somebody has blundered.

But, SpaceX and Tesla are, arguably, better-run. I wonder if this isn't because of the departure of many of his staff (either forced or voluntary) and advertisers.

ETA: Whatever happened to Boring (the company, that is)?

[jon-nyc]

Well this really just comes down to him having overpaid. But I wouldn’t bet on bankruptcy now, I think he’s just trying to get people to take the issues seriously.

But it’s certainly a possibility. And I think his ownership is maybe 15B, with another ~15B from other sources (arab sovereign wealth funds and Larry Ellison) and another 13B from banks.

So he could bail on this and it would cost him <15B since equity holders would get a small piece of the reorganized Twitter.

[Copper]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

Seems like he’s trying to run a tech company like a Victorian cotton mill.

Somebody has blundered.

The true believers will love it

The second string will hate it

win/win

[xenon]

I'm really interested to see how this works out. I find myself rooting for Twitter... Musk is a weird, petty dude - but desire to prove he's an idiot is a bit much.

[Doctor Phibes]

@Copper said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

@Doctor-Phibes said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

Seems like he’s trying to run a tech company like a Victorian cotton mill.

Somebody has blundered.

The true believers will love it

The second string will hate it

win/win

I don’t think he’s going to get the people he wants if he forces his employees to come into office.

The working world has changed.

[LuFins Dad]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

@Copper said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

@Doctor-Phibes said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

Seems like he’s trying to run a tech company like a Victorian cotton mill.

Somebody has blundered.

The true believers will love it

The second string will hate it

win/win

I don’t think he’s going to get the people he wants if he forces his employees to come into office.

The working world has changed.

And another year of stacking inflation and lower employment prospects will change it again. I’m not saying it will go back to what it was, but the pendulum will swing…

[Doctor Phibes]

@LuFins-Dad said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

@Doctor-Phibes said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

@Copper said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

@Doctor-Phibes said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

Seems like he’s trying to run a tech company like a Victorian cotton mill.

Somebody has blundered.

The true believers will love it

The second string will hate it

win/win

I don’t think he’s going to get the people he wants if he forces his employees to come into office.

The working world has changed.

And another year of stacking inflation and lower employment prospects will change it again. I’m not saying it will go back to what it was, but the pendulum will swing…

No, I think the days of folk being told they have to come in 5 days a week are over. It was already changing before the pandemic and that accelerated the process. I work for a much more conservative company than any of the tech places and even we were slowly moving that way.

I actually quite like going into the office, but more than that I like having the freedom of choice. Elon sounds like a reactionary.

You can force people to do something they think is really stupid for a limited time, but not for the long haul.

[Axtremus]

@jon-nyc said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

But I wouldn’t bet on bankruptcy now, I think he’s just trying to get people to take the issues seriously.

Who would the target audience be for this “Twitter may go bankrupt” messaging? How would this work to Twitter or Musk’s advantage?

[jon-nyc]

@Axtremus

Maybe suppliers and employees.

Maybe co-investors that he might be trying to raise operating funds from.

[Axtremus]

@jon-nyc said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

@Axtremus

Maybe suppliers and employees.

Maybe co-investors that he might be trying to raise operating funds from.

Trying to game this out …

Suppliers — telegraphing bankruptcy is more likely to get the suppliers to tighten credit and shorten payment terms, no? Not advantageous to Twitter.

Employees — is the objective to get more employees to jump ship on their own (as opposed to laying them off) to save a little bit on layoff expenses? Not clear if this would be an appreciable advantageous to Twitter.

Co-investors — not clear how it would help to convince investors (be it current or prospective investors) to put more money into a business that is about to go bankrupt. :man-shrugging:

[Copper]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

No, I think the days of folk being told they have to come in 5 days a week are over.

Not for those who have real jobs that build things or fix things or who perform some service, surgeons for example or bus drivers.