Ruffled feathers at Twitter HQ this week.
Elon takes to Twitter. Unleashing a storm of tweets. To announce a takeover bid for Twitter.
Gosh. Complicated.
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Influence
Musk buying Twitter is a no brainer.
He may be the richest man in the world but he’s just getting started. And Twitter is vital to that. His Twitter account is his mouth piece to the world.
Gone are the days when faceless corporations reigned supreme. The rise of social media has seen the rise of the influencer. With a Twitter account and a keyboard one can reach millions.
Musk has 82m Twitter followers.
This gives him remarkable influence. And he knows how to use it quite unlike anyone else.
Sore to Soaring
Musk’s a master on Twitter. It all stems from his audacity.
He understand that boundaries can be pushed and that gives him a huge advantage. It’s the old: Ask for forgiveness not permission.
Take the funding secured debacle.
2018 was a rocky year for Tesla. With production issues rampant TSLA was the most shorted stock on the planet. Musk decided to shake the tree with his infamous tweet. A fire storm ensued.
The tweet sent short sellers into a frenzy and an SEC filing quickly followed. Tesla’s share price plummeted.
Two days after the filing the two sides settled for a $40m fine split between Musk and Tesla. Ouch.
He wasn’t done there. After settling he openly mocked the SEC.
@MichaelWynne44 sums it up nicely:
What’s remarkable is that the following period saw demand soar.
Revenues grew rapidly and Musk suggested demand was there for another 500k to 1m Model 3s. At $50k a pop that’s 25 to 50 billion dollars.
One has to wondered whether the coverage contributed. I suspect it did. Not a bad way to spend $40m.
Stage Set
He’s at it again with this take over. I bet Teslas are flying off the shelves this week.
And it’s not just about selling cars. He’s playing on a different level to everyone else. See his below exchange with the Saudi prince Al Waleed bin Talal.
AWbT tweeted:
To which Musk replied:
Touché.
Whether Elon is successful in this bid doesn’t really matter.
Point made and stage set.
Watch this space.
My Week in Books📚
Humble Pi by Matt Parker
A comedy of maths errors. Hilarious. Parker is remarkably wry and witty which makes for a wonderful read. Enlightening too.
I’ll be updating the books I’ve read this year here. Any recommendations? Let me know! See 2021’s books here.
A Final Thought 💡
“God himself helps those who dare.”
― Ovid