4 ms·

Ask HN: Why did Elon Musk buy Twitter, really?

10 points by roschdal 3y ago

sp332 3y ago
It’s getting re-litigated now, if you missed it the first time. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/07/musk-sues-law-firm-because-hes-mad-that-twitter-paid-90-million-bill/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/07/musk-sues-law-fi...
Bender 3y ago
Why did Elon Musk buy Twitter, really? I don't know but I can guess. If I were as wealthy as him and I operated a few companies like SpaceX, Tesla, Boring, etc... and I wanted a way to promote them I would look at buying Alphabet, Meta, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft. Twitter was probably in the most likely position for acquisition of those but I am just guessing. Whoever controls the media can adjust the public perception of reality. This could be beneficial for a myriad of reasons. Consolidation of media occurred with physical media, then radio and television. It worked well for them. Perhaps it is a stretch for me to compare Elon to the likes of Rupert Murdoch but Elon could be the governments next golden child. Let's see if he buys more social media companies. Is Mastodon gGmbH immune to acquisition?
- damnesian 3y ago
  >Whoever controls the media can adjust the public perception of reality Imho this was the main reason. He wants to control the narrative. The old model is reporters ask questions and give (if they are not advancing an agenda) a pretty factual account of events. When you control the public perception, you basically write the news yourself. you influence the consensual reality. Rather than spinning, the spin is the "report." and for a guy who is amongst the richest on the planet, with fingers in the biggest pies, and shall we say a very specific editorial viewpoint about the world, he doesn't want to have to deal with a narrative that just relates facts. He wants to tell the story we tell each other about things.
EA-3167 3y ago
I feel like people miss just how hard he tried to not buy Twitter. It seems clear that he was doing his usual market manipulation/dick swinging on social media, and went a little too far. He tried to bail, Twitter took him to court and before the court could force the sale, he said "OK yeah sure. I'll buy it." It was a clown move, by a clown.
- smoldesu 3y ago
  The real winners are the shareholders. They unloaded an overvalued stock at a ludicrous price, and got to walk away Scot-free while Elon tended to the burning mess. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they were tired of Dorsey's indecision too, and just wanted the whole thing to be over. And they got their wish, looking innocent as an angel and pure as driven snow.
- krapp 3y ago
  It's weird how deeply that seems to have been memory-holed. It was practically a meme how every week Elon would come up with some crazy new scheme to back out of buying Twitter. I think Elon's original offer was even a weed joke on Twitter that was taken seriously, although I may be wrong about that. What happened is that, for possibly the first time in his life, his actions had consequences he was forced to accept. Now the narrative is that it was all some 5D chess move we mere mortals still struggle to comprehend. Like no, he never wanted Twitter, and now that he has it, he's just fucking around.
- version_five 3y ago
  Yeah, I actually mostly like what Musk has done with Twitter in terms of allowing more opinions, encouraging media that doesn't toe the mainstream line, and community notes, but this is still the right answer. He reall didn't want to buy it, it was a dumb 420 meme gone wrong.
smoldesu 3y ago
I'm not convinced there's a hidden answer, or anything. He saw a very poorly managed operation, went "I could do that", and then fucked up even worse. Shareholders probably knew Twitter was overvalued, so selling at market-price to one madman was better than trusting another not to capsize your investment. So, they did what any reasonable investor would do, and they fucked over the users. Let it be a lesson to anyone who puts their faith in a private platform. These people don't care about you - they just get paid to pretend to.
mikequinlan 3y ago
Here is an old New York Times article on the (leaked) pitch deck that Musk presented to potential investors explaining his plans for Twitter. https://archive.ph/9PG3M https://archive.ph/9PG3M Here is an article about Musk's plans for "Twitter 2.0" now, I think, called the X application. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/Elon-Musk-Shares-Roadmap-for-Twitter/637340/ https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/Elon-Musk-Shares-Roadm...
mtmail 3y ago
One stated reason was to build a 'super app'. Take Twitter and its user network as first step, then add features like peer-to-peer payments, app store https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/4/18/23687125/elon-musk-twitter-x-super-app-wechat https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/4/18/23687125/elon-musk-... Same was reported about Zuckerberg and Meta https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-dreams-building-super-075931712.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-dreams-buildi...
- meepmorp 3y ago
  At best that's a post hoc rationalization for the decision, not an actual motivation behind the purchase itself.
Cheyana 3y ago
I just love these responses so far. It really does seem like it’s “a little of column A, and a little of column B”. The takeaway I get is that he got stuck buying an overpriced tool, without understanding how it works, or how to use it, and is slowly starting to break it with his mishandling of it. Reality must seem a lot different to someone with more money than anyone. With my finances I can only afford to eff up so much. He can afford a lot more than me.
mamonster 3y ago
1. He thought they had a lot of extra fat - Judging by the fact that he basically kicked off the silicon valley firing trend, he might have been right. 2. He thought advertisers/power users were locked into the platform but didn't pay enough - Judging by the fact that he had to hire a new executive from traditional media whose job is to likely negotiate with advertisers he was likely very wrong on what he though the power balance between twitter and ads was. 3. He thought the platform lacked core products - Since there are still no tangible new products at Twitter not sure how to grade him. Overall, this is basically what a PE buyout of a shit company looks like. Except this company's product is used by basically everyone(on the free tier) and we get to watch the turnaround/last breath from the first row.
bob1029 3y ago
I assume for the same reasons Jeff Bezos bought his media mouthpiece. A combination of basic human competition and desire to have more influence over public perception.
rsynnott 3y ago
I assume he never actually intended to, but didn't understand what he was signing. It's fairly clear he didn't have a coherent plan.
meepmorp 3y ago
In the end, because his choices were to agree to the purchase or wage a court battle that he wasn't likely to win. The former costs ~$44 billion; the latter probably still costs $44 billion, but also court costs and whatever embarrassing/damaging stuff that comes out in discovery. As to why he made the offer in the first place, who knows? But whatever the reason, it's fairly obvious that he regretted it almost as soon as the ink was dry.
ZeroGravitas 3y ago
As far as his stated reasons: He was fairly open about thinking Twitter was some leftist cabal holding back the truth. As for my own take, twitter addiction seems to warp you, in ways that send you more reactionary. See Jordan Peterson's recent output there for example. It's like your own Overton Window gets shifted by the people you interact with.
Jemm 3y ago
I think he started buying it for Trump but then when Trump said he wouldn't join, Musk tried very hard to get out of the deal.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

10 points by roschdal 3y ago

It’s getting re-litigated now, if you missed it the first time. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/07/musk-sues-law-firm-because-hes-mad-that-twitter-paid-90-million-bill/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/07/musk-sues-law-fi...

Bender 3y ago

Why did Elon Musk buy Twitter, really? I don't know but I can guess. If I were as wealthy as him and I operated a few companies like SpaceX, Tesla, Boring, etc... and I wanted a way to promote them I would look at buying Alphabet, Meta, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft. Twitter was probably in the most likely position for acquisition of those but I am just guessing. Whoever controls the media can adjust the public perception of reality. This could be beneficial for a myriad of reasons. Consolidation of media occurred with physical media, then radio and television. It worked well for them. Perhaps it is a stretch for me to compare Elon to the likes of Rupert Murdoch but Elon could be the governments next golden child. Let's see if he buys more social media companies. Is Mastodon gGmbH immune to acquisition?

damnesian 3y ago
>Whoever controls the media can adjust the public perception of reality Imho this was the main reason. He wants to control the narrative. The old model is reporters ask questions and give (if they are not advancing an agenda) a pretty factual account of events. When you control the public perception, you basically write the news yourself. you influence the consensual reality. Rather than spinning, the spin is the "report." and for a guy who is amongst the richest on the planet, with fingers in the biggest pies, and shall we say a very specific editorial viewpoint about the world, he doesn't want to have to deal with a narrative that just relates facts. He wants to tell the story we tell each other about things.

EA-3167 3y ago

I feel like people miss just how hard he tried to not buy Twitter. It seems clear that he was doing his usual market manipulation/dick swinging on social media, and went a little too far. He tried to bail, Twitter took him to court and before the court could force the sale, he said "OK yeah sure. I'll buy it." It was a clown move, by a clown.

smoldesu 3y ago
The real winners are the shareholders. They unloaded an overvalued stock at a ludicrous price, and got to walk away Scot-free while Elon tended to the burning mess. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they were tired of Dorsey's indecision too, and just wanted the whole thing to be over. And they got their wish, looking innocent as an angel and pure as driven snow.
krapp 3y ago
It's weird how deeply that seems to have been memory-holed. It was practically a meme how every week Elon would come up with some crazy new scheme to back out of buying Twitter. I think Elon's original offer was even a weed joke on Twitter that was taken seriously, although I may be wrong about that. What happened is that, for possibly the first time in his life, his actions had consequences he was forced to accept. Now the narrative is that it was all some 5D chess move we mere mortals still struggle to comprehend. Like no, he never wanted Twitter, and now that he has it, he's just fucking around.
version_five 3y ago
Yeah, I actually mostly like what Musk has done with Twitter in terms of allowing more opinions, encouraging media that doesn't toe the mainstream line, and community notes, but this is still the right answer. He reall didn't want to buy it, it was a dumb 420 meme gone wrong.

smoldesu 3y ago

I'm not convinced there's a hidden answer, or anything. He saw a very poorly managed operation, went "I could do that", and then fucked up even worse. Shareholders probably knew Twitter was overvalued, so selling at market-price to one madman was better than trusting another not to capsize your investment. So, they did what any reasonable investor would do, and they fucked over the users. Let it be a lesson to anyone who puts their faith in a private platform. These people don't care about you - they just get paid to pretend to.

mikequinlan 3y ago

Here is an old New York Times article on the (leaked) pitch deck that Musk presented to potential investors explaining his plans for Twitter. https://archive.ph/9PG3M https://archive.ph/9PG3M Here is an article about Musk's plans for "Twitter 2.0" now, I think, called the X application. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/Elon-Musk-Shares-Roadmap-for-Twitter/637340/ https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/Elon-Musk-Shares-Roadm...

mtmail 3y ago

One stated reason was to build a 'super app'. Take Twitter and its user network as first step, then add features like peer-to-peer payments, app store https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/4/18/23687125/elon-musk-twitter-x-super-app-wechat https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/4/18/23687125/elon-musk-... Same was reported about Zuckerberg and Meta https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-dreams-building-super-075931712.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-dreams-buildi...

meepmorp 3y ago
At best that's a post hoc rationalization for the decision, not an actual motivation behind the purchase itself.

Cheyana 3y ago

I just love these responses so far. It really does seem like it’s “a little of column A, and a little of column B”. The takeaway I get is that he got stuck buying an overpriced tool, without understanding how it works, or how to use it, and is slowly starting to break it with his mishandling of it. Reality must seem a lot different to someone with more money than anyone. With my finances I can only afford to eff up so much. He can afford a lot more than me.

mamonster 3y ago

1. He thought they had a lot of extra fat - Judging by the fact that he basically kicked off the silicon valley firing trend, he might have been right. 2. He thought advertisers/power users were locked into the platform but didn't pay enough - Judging by the fact that he had to hire a new executive from traditional media whose job is to likely negotiate with advertisers he was likely very wrong on what he though the power balance between twitter and ads was. 3. He thought the platform lacked core products - Since there are still no tangible new products at Twitter not sure how to grade him. Overall, this is basically what a PE buyout of a shit company looks like. Except this company's product is used by basically everyone(on the free tier) and we get to watch the turnaround/last breath from the first row.

bob1029 3y ago

I assume for the same reasons Jeff Bezos bought his media mouthpiece. A combination of basic human competition and desire to have more influence over public perception.

rsynnott 3y ago

I assume he never actually intended to, but didn't understand what he was signing. It's fairly clear he didn't have a coherent plan.

meepmorp 3y ago

In the end, because his choices were to agree to the purchase or wage a court battle that he wasn't likely to win. The former costs ~$44 billion; the latter probably still costs $44 billion, but also court costs and whatever embarrassing/damaging stuff that comes out in discovery. As to why he made the offer in the first place, who knows? But whatever the reason, it's fairly obvious that he regretted it almost as soon as the ink was dry.

ZeroGravitas 3y ago

As far as his stated reasons: He was fairly open about thinking Twitter was some leftist cabal holding back the truth. As for my own take, twitter addiction seems to warp you, in ways that send you more reactionary. See Jordan Peterson's recent output there for example. It's like your own Overton Window gets shifted by the people you interact with.

Jemm 3y ago

I think he started buying it for Trump but then when Trump said he wouldn't join, Musk tried very hard to get out of the deal.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]