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Have you considered that he and his extremely wealthy and conservative co-investors[1] simply wanted to destroy twitter? Judging by the antipathy some on this f

Have you considered that he and his extremely wealthy and conservative co-investors[1] simply wanted to destroy twitter? Judging by the antipathy some on this forum pour on the site, it seems to have struck a nerve with certain people. [1]: https://slate.com/technology/2022/05/elon-musks-twitter-investors-a-guide-to-whos-who.html https://slate.com/technology/2022/05/elon-musks-twitter-inve...

paxys 4y ago
Musk has put $20-$30B of his own money into Twitter, which he got by selling TSLA shares, which in turn cratered the company's share price and the value of the rest of his holdings in it. Overall he has lost 40% of his net worth (like $110 billion) this year, largely due to this single deal. No one wants to destroy anything that badly. And the funny thing is that he was easily one of the most popular personalities on Twitter even before any of this. He simply had to do...nothing.
- aschearer 4y ago
  What you say and that he presumably has some pride, which must now be bruising, are the only reasons I doubt that it's all intentional. Truly, it's incredible that he could self-own himself to this degree. As you say, he was on top of the world, and now...
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    The big question is how it all ends. This is full on self-destruct at this point and with an ego that fragile there are all kinds of terrible outcomes possible. Musk should lay off Twitter, spend some time AFK and then focus on Tesla and SpaceX and consider Twitter a giant mistake, hand it off to others to run. Obviously he's never going to follow that advice but I genuinely believe that to be his best course of action at this point.
    - JohnFen 4y ago
      I think Twitter is clearly doomed. The best case outcome for it is that it becomes Parler.
- anigbrowl 4y ago
  This is a lot of money, but consider the sheer power in having the nearest thing to a real-time global communication network by the throat. Facebook is also global, but it's never been associated with breaking news the way Twitter is. Getting mainstream journalists onto the 21st century equivalent of a news ticker in your pocket was the brilliant strategic move early on; one day it was a website for nerds and weirdos to talk about nothing, but before every TV and print news outlet had a twitter presence and was inviting users to 'join the conversation' and connect with breaking news. It is the equivalent of owning global radio infrastructure a century ago.
  - bradgessler 4y ago
    Sure, but Elon’s tactics at Twitter appear to be more impulsive than strategic.
- JohnFen 4y ago
  But remember that Musk very much didn't want to buy twitter. He was forced to, and in the process of doing that, has saddled Twitter with a level of debt it has no prayer of being able to service. I could totally believe that he would prefer that it died.

paxys 4y ago

Musk has put $20-$30B of his own money into Twitter, which he got by selling TSLA shares, which in turn cratered the company's share price and the value of the rest of his holdings in it. Overall he has lost 40% of his net worth (like $110 billion) this year, largely due to this single deal. No one wants to destroy anything that badly. And the funny thing is that he was easily one of the most popular personalities on Twitter even before any of this. He simply had to do...nothing.

aschearer 4y ago
What you say and that he presumably has some pride, which must now be bruising, are the only reasons I doubt that it's all intentional. Truly, it's incredible that he could self-own himself to this degree. As you say, he was on top of the world, and now...
- jacquesm 4y ago
  The big question is how it all ends. This is full on self-destruct at this point and with an ego that fragile there are all kinds of terrible outcomes possible. Musk should lay off Twitter, spend some time AFK and then focus on Tesla and SpaceX and consider Twitter a giant mistake, hand it off to others to run. Obviously he's never going to follow that advice but I genuinely believe that to be his best course of action at this point.
  - JohnFen 4y ago
    I think Twitter is clearly doomed. The best case outcome for it is that it becomes Parler.
anigbrowl 4y ago
This is a lot of money, but consider the sheer power in having the nearest thing to a real-time global communication network by the throat. Facebook is also global, but it's never been associated with breaking news the way Twitter is. Getting mainstream journalists onto the 21st century equivalent of a news ticker in your pocket was the brilliant strategic move early on; one day it was a website for nerds and weirdos to talk about nothing, but before every TV and print news outlet had a twitter presence and was inviting users to 'join the conversation' and connect with breaking news. It is the equivalent of owning global radio infrastructure a century ago.
- bradgessler 4y ago
  Sure, but Elon’s tactics at Twitter appear to be more impulsive than strategic.
JohnFen 4y ago
But remember that Musk very much didn't want to buy twitter. He was forced to, and in the process of doing that, has saddled Twitter with a level of debt it has no prayer of being able to service. I could totally believe that he would prefer that it died.