Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter

[Axtremus]

Musk declined to join Twitter’s Board of Directors.

[jon-nyc]

It would be interesting to know what’s behind this.

Keep in mind the board seat came with him signing a “stand still agreement” limiting him to 14.9% of the stock. Thus no hostile takeover was possible.

Without that agreement, Twitter has that possibility hanging over its head. It could give Musk even more influence.

[jon-nyc]

@George-K

They don’t even have to get into whattaboutism. The piece was absurd on its face. Literally all of her points fell flat and were totally unrelated to the supposed topic of Musk’s support for free speech. Basically it was “Musk bends SEC rules and a few of his many thousands of employees have done bad things, ergo he won’t give you free speech”.

[Klaus]

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

It would be interesting to know what’s behind this.

Why didn't they ask Musk in private whether he wants to be on the board or not before making the offer public?

[jon-nyc]

I think he wanted the seat and then changed his mind later.

[LuFins Dad]

I think it was all about the “code of conduct” that’s in the agreement. My guess is there was verbiage that would have limited Elon’s public behavior and posts.

[89th]

Elon should tweet this morning, "board, more like bored amirite"

[George K]

[Klaus]

Hmmm...

[George K]

As @jon-nyc said, being on the board limits the percentage of shares he could own. He is also obligated to act in the "best interests of the company."

Now, no such restrictions.

Somewhere, I read that employees are even more upset now, LOL.

[George K]

I've loved Iowahawk for years...

[George K]

[taiwan_girl]

I dont use twitter at all, but obviously know what it is about, etc.

In the esteemed opinion of the forum brains:

If Elon Musk buys a large share of Twitter, what do you think he will do to change things?

If YOU were able to change things at Twitter, what would you do?

I guess I dont understand what the fear/happiness is if he buys a large share of Twitter.

[Aqua Letifer]

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

I dont use twitter at all, but obviously know what it is about, etc.

In the esteemed opinion of the forum brains:

If Elon Musk buys a large share of Twitter, what do you think he will do to change things?

If YOU were able to change things at Twitter, what would you do?

I guess I dont understand what the fear/happiness is if he buys a large share of Twitter.

I think Musk would have different motivations than current Twitter management, which I think would be a good thing for the platform. That's all I can say with some certainty.

[taiwan_girl]

@Aqua-Letifer said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

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

I dont use twitter at all, but obviously know what it is about, etc.

In the esteemed opinion of the forum brains:

If Elon Musk buys a large share of Twitter, what do you think he will do to change things?

If YOU were able to change things at Twitter, what would you do?

I guess I dont understand what the fear/happiness is if he buys a large share of Twitter.

I think Musk would have different motivations than current Twitter management, which I think would be a good thing for the platform. That's all I can say with some certainty.

I think that makes sense, but to the 99% of people not directly involved with the compnay, what does that mean?

Shift in algorithm?
No moderation?
etc

[Horace]

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

@Aqua-Letifer said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

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

I dont use twitter at all, but obviously know what it is about, etc.

In the esteemed opinion of the forum brains:

If Elon Musk buys a large share of Twitter, what do you think he will do to change things?

If YOU were able to change things at Twitter, what would you do?

I guess I dont understand what the fear/happiness is if he buys a large share of Twitter.

I think Musk would have different motivations than current Twitter management, which I think would be a good thing for the platform. That's all I can say with some certainty.

I think that makes sense, but to the 99% of people not directly involved with the compnay, what does that mean?

Shift in algorithm?
No moderation?
etc

Musk is an established proponent of "free speech", which is to say, he practices it, and has been known to utter opinions not in line with the woke narrative of the day. He is not a trusted member of that tribe, which may, to the bean counters at Twitter, seem dangerous. And of course it may seem dangerous to indoctrinated folk who get triggered when they are confronted by opinions that make them feel unsafe.

For practical purposes you might consider this to be a fear of less moderation, but there is also the notion that Musk will be considered a visible leader on the platform, regardless of practical effect. Think of how people felt their own self-image to be tarnished by Trump as their president. People don't like leaders they feel are icky, regardless of the practical effect of those leaders.

[Horace]

Then again, it would probably be easy to overestimate how much anybody actually cares. Whatever reactions we're seeing are amplified by whatever media we consume those reactions through. Has anybody seen a random-sample reaction to this?

[Aqua Letifer]

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

@Aqua-Letifer said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:

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

I dont use twitter at all, but obviously know what it is about, etc.

In the esteemed opinion of the forum brains:

If Elon Musk buys a large share of Twitter, what do you think he will do to change things?

If YOU were able to change things at Twitter, what would you do?

I guess I dont understand what the fear/happiness is if he buys a large share of Twitter.

I think Musk would have different motivations than current Twitter management, which I think would be a good thing for the platform. That's all I can say with some certainty.

I think that makes sense, but to the 99% of people not directly involved with the compnay, what does that mean?

Everything is speculation until it happens.

[xenon]

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

If Elon Musk buys a large share of Twitter, what do you think he will do to change things?

Fewer bans. Wouldn't have banned Trump.

Other than that - not much.

Trump could have set up a simple blog called "Trump thoughts" and just self-published.

He was bigger than the platform.

[Copper]

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

People don't like leaders they feel are icky

There can be no question that the most important trait of any leader today is, not icky.

I am so happy that when I was a working man dealing with leaders, nobody had ever heard of not being icky.

Tough Minded Managers were in demand.