I haven’t done any deep dives into these claims, but I’ve been seeing some fuss about how Tesla is perhaps a huge Ponzi scheme? I do wonder, because Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk seems… um, Ponzi-schemey. Musk made news this week because he was offered a seat on Twitter’s board of directors only to walk away when Twitter told him he would need to pass a background check (lmao, not shady at all). Now Musk is spearheading a hostile takeover of Twitter, offering to buy the public company for $43 billion so he can take it private.
Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share, saying the social media company needs to be transformed privately, a little over a week after first revealing a 9.2% stake in the company.
“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk wrote in a letter sent to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor and disclosed in a securities filing. According to Musk, the social media company needs to go private because it can “neither thrive nor serve” free speech in its current state.
“As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced,” he wrote. “My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder. Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.”
Twitter shares jumped 12% in premarket trading after closing at $45.85 a share on Wednesday.
Musk first disclosed his stake in the social media giant on April 4 and later landed a seat on the company’s board of directors, before reversing those plans. The Tesla CEO has previously criticized the social media giant publicly, polling people on Twitter last month about whether the company abides by free speech principles and said he was considering building a new social media platform.
Shares of Twitter have seesawed in recent weeks amid the news from Musk, but are up 6% this year and 18.5% since the start of the month. Musk’s offer values Twitter at about $43 billion.
I cannot believe that a f–king billionaire wingnut – the richest man in the world, who doesn’t pay taxes – is arguing that a public company needs to be taken private so that free speech and democracy can reign. He is basically launching a public campaign of “Bring The Nazis Back To Twitter.” Everyone knows that Musk will allow Trump to come back too. “Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.” This is giving me such anxiety.
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- USA Rights Only, Berlin, Germany – 20191112- Elon Musk poses for pictures as he arrives at the Das Goldene Lenkrad award ceremony. -PICTURED: Elon Musk -PHOTO by: Steffens/DDP/INSTARimages.com -ddp_11431749 This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact Instar Images LLC for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207 This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. Instar Images LLC reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded
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- 01 December 2020, Berlin: Elon Musk, head of the space company SpaceX and Tesla CEO, comes to the Axel Springer Award ceremony. Musk will accept this year’s Axel Springer Award.,Image: 572867757, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Britta Pedersen / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
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- (FILE) Elon Musk acquires 1,200+ ventilators from China to help alleviate coronavirus COVID-19 shortage. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has acquired a trove of ventilators from China and shipped them to the U.S. for distribution to hospitals in need during the coronavirus. BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – FEBRUARY 26: Chief Executive Officer of Tesla, Inc. and SpaceX Elon Musk arrives at the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscar Party held at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 26, 2017 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States. Where: Beverly Hills, California, United States When: 24 Mar 2020 Credit: WENN/Avalon **WENN/Avalon**
This really makes me nervous too.
Freedumb’rs are the bee in m bonnet. Plus Teslas are just NOT affordable, give me a break. That technology should be FREE and in every vehicle on the planet.
Having Trump back on Twitter would be terrible for our country. Donald hasn’t found another way to rally his troops and scare everybody else so easily.
I really hope that this doesn’t happen. I can’t stay on that platform if he takes it over. This is just so disgusting.
I would delete my account if this were to happen. I do not want this to happen. It’s so creepy.
If he succeeds in buying it, he’ll just run it into the ground. People will leave in droves and find the next thing to move on to. Twitter isn’t eternal. So many social media apps that used to be hugely popular faded away into obscurity with a new hit thing to pop up.
He will turn Twitter into a cesspit of hate. Then drop it when he finds out it’s not making him money because he drove most of its customers away.
💯 I feel the same way but said it less eloquently.
Oh lord. I do hope he leaves Twitter alone. It’s entertaining as is and we don’t need a villain like him messing it up.
I hope that’s true, but the right has attempted to create their own versions of Twitter and they have all failed.
This. It’ll just turn into an even less useful Facebook or move itself into dark web 8-Chan territory.
Twitter is already bad but once it goes full bats*#t it’ll loose any public value outside of crazies and the FBI and NSA watching them.
How does Twitter make its money, or how would owning it make money for Elon? I thought it doesn’t have ads? (I don’t have any social media)
Also, does Elon really have that much “real” money? I would have guessed it was all investment-type asset stuff or tied up in Tesla, not cash.
Twitter absolutely has ads. Users can also pay to elevate their posts and promote themselves. And then there is the dark underbelly of buying Twitter bots to push agendas. Buying followers, buying likes, etc. It’s definitely for profit.
Twitter has ads. They appear marked with “promoted content.”
Some of the young uns don’t even know what MySpace is, so yeah, I can see it dying. If something else comes along.
This is very scary and I agree with what you said. I kind of described it with more expletives when I first heard.
Gah it will be the death of Twitter. I hope Google or another competitor has a site ready to go. This is why Oligarchs are dangerous.
“Free speech” is the freedom to express your views of the government to the government or anyone else without reprisal from that government. Social media is irrelevant to that right and companies that run social media platforms have the right to control content and you give them that right when you open an account. Want to exercise free speech? Go to the nearest park and say whatever you want.
I struggle with whether people are ignorant or willfully misrepresenting the Constitution on the First when they complain about private sector consequences for their content on social media. THIS IS NOT HARD. 🤬
Right? Twitter is a private company that is free to decide not to host Nazis. It’s that simple.
Is this likely to happen? What could we do?
There isn’t really another option out there, unfortunately. Not exactly like Twitter. It sucks. I don’t always enjoy Twitter but it did give me some of the best friends I have. And I’ll always remember that but if he buys it, that’s it. Over. Done.
What is this obsession with Twitter?! What is this “twu potential” he’s going on about? I guess I’m not smart enough to see it, unlike Elon.
It is well documented how awful he is, this would be a huge mistake.
Usually free speech-ers promote it because the public is not against them, or because there is a louder voice in their favor. Elon should be very careful of what he wishes for, he’s got a lot of skeletons.
I hope the Twitter board reply with, “We believe paying taxes is a civil responsibility and a social imperative for a functioning democracy. We don’t condone wealth hoarding or oligarchs.”
That’s fine unless the shareholders vote out the board. A 50 % premium will get some attention.
Problem is that the prices of shares will plummet if they turn him down. This is why he does this. It’s basically a hostile takeover by putting them between a rock and a hard place. Either he gets the company or the company loses their shirt when they reject him and stock prices plummet. He’ll have sold off the shares he does have while the price is high to his stans who will want to tap into this moment. Either way, he walks off winning.
He’s definitely going to let Trump back. The right failed to recreate their own wingnut version of Twitter, so now they are taking over the OG.
Assholes like Musk and Trump are the reason we can’t have nice things, dammit. Talk about a chilling effect on “free speech”!
@ C-Shell, though we should all collectively laugh our asses of for the next few weeks due to the colossal failures of Drumpfs personal app!!! It’s been an massive disaster since day ONE!!! There is a wait list of over 100k people and NO one can load the app, but if they are successful, it crashes!!!! It’s a wonderful day the longer that the giant Cheeto-Lini is NOT able to spew his hatred!!!!
We have too many billionaire villains on this planet and no superheroes.
Yup. This is why billionaires should not exist.
Mackenzie Scott seems to be trying but she can’t do it alone.
More Obamas please. Things were so much better.
Can he do this while being sued for manipulating the share price?
And taking it private to save free speech is an oxymoron, because I bet the first move after bringing back the orange dingbat would be to ban everyone he disagrees with.
This will free up time, because there isn’t an equivalent place to just scroll. Some folks I can figure out how to follow on Instagram, but I enjoy the random posts on Twitter I find by likes of people I follow or just the weird stuff based on my likes. Gonna miss that.
It is a threat from Musk. His last line–how he would have to reevaluate his position–is him threatening to dump and tank the stock so shareholders will panic and he’ll make out like a bandit. He is a villain in every sense of the word. And yet no one will do anything about any villain if he’s got wealth. We’ve learned that time and time again.
Sure, there’s no formal SEC action against him on this yet and the other lawsuit is a civil suit. So he could do it. But honestly, this looks like a pretty classic pump-and-dump scheme and given the SEC is already scrutinizing his ass because of his shadiness with SpaceX and Tesla, I could see this ending pretty badly for him.
If only more things would end badly for Musk….
If the SEC is scrutinizing him, just wait until the full audit comes. He’s going to wish that he took the blue pill instead of the red pill that he was telling everyone to take. They are going to swarm all over him like a million Agent Smiths and sentinels. He is not going to be able to Neo flex and fly his way out of it. For real, they are no joke. OMG it will be glorious!
I’m barely holding on to Twitter as it is. I deleted the app from my phone but I still log onto the desktop version. Less frequently but still too much. If Elon buys it, I will delete everything and deactivate.
It will be freeing.
Besides, my boys BTS have largely migrated to Instagram and their own app, Weverse. They’re the only public figure I’m keen to keep up with on a personal level. I’m not including the Sussex’s because they aren’t on social media at all.
If this happens, I am killing my account. He would allow D. Trump to come back on a spew lie after lie, I am done.
Pay 43 Billion to avoid a background check. Not suspicious at all.
Saw this coming a mile away…
He’s currently being sued by a couple of other shareholders right now too, lol
He doesn’t have the liquidity to make this purchase on his own, nor did he secure financing before filing with the SEC. This is an elaborate attempt to distract from the pump and dump scheme he’s running on the 9.2% stake he bought when he was trying to be on the board.
Elon’s trying to pump & dump his shares if his games work. He just happened to announce that he owns nearly 10% of shares in the company, then he just happened to be about to be a board member, only for that to be walked back with all manner of weirdness, then he announces a hostile takeover & if he doesn’t get his way, he’ll “reconsider” his stock ownership. I don’t think for a second that he really intends to buy Twitter–he’s just seeing what the market does.
Musk is a drama queen who plays at business. He’s this generation’s Howard Hughes, though I’ll admit I think Hughes was more interesting.
@Lizzie- Couldn’t have put it better myself. Though I do think it’s an insult to Howard to compare him to this waste of bodily fluids.
He wishes he could be Howard’s pee?
@lizzie
Pump and dump with a tad blackmail. Not in the best interest of the company, share holders nor users. An investment firm recently accumulated 10+% of the shares, so the board have funding to protect its shareholders.
That will be the end of Twitter for me.
I love Twitter and have been enjoying it for years (I’m @specialagentSL) and this douche just wants to buy it so he can ruin it.
There are a lot in favour of hate speech and misinformation labelled as “free speech” and luckily, most get shut down through reporting. Many right-wing nut jobs have been banned, including Trump, so they cry about free speech then try and start new Twitter-esque platforms to spread their hate (which fail). I’ve had a few hate tweets come my way and Twitter does a decent job of shutting it down.
Musk is one of the worst people on the planet and him walking away from the board of Twitter because of a background check is shady AF. He’s a grifter and just wants a place to spew garbage unchecked.
Some people have too much money. It gives their crazy a platform.
With Musk though, he has mixed money with crazy too, so he is potentially more dangerous….
There is NO reason why there are so FEW people that have more money than they can spend in 100 lifetimes!!!! The wealth gap has been growing in the last 2 years. The 1% increased their wealthy by disgusting numbers during the pandemic!!! It’s time that everyone STOPS giving them tax breaks for their companies. Plus, they MUST start paying a greater percentage of taxes!! There is zero reason why the middle class and lower should be supporting this country!!!
The fact that he even has 43 BILlion? Is just sickening to me. I really believe he is deranged and can do real damage to the world.
It wouldn’t, but IF it happened twitter would be parlor and everyone with a brain would flee. Tesla stock would take a hit. Elon just wants people to talk about him.
BS! He is such a provocateur for no other reason but for more attention for himself. I can’t stand this dbag. He doesn’t give a sh!t about anything but making money and attention whoring.
But what about Maaaaaaars?? This dipsh!t gets so distracted.
This is a nothingburger.
It’s Elon Musk pulling another Pump and Dump scam. Since he began his shenanigans with Twitter the price of the stock has increased approximately 15%. He’s desperately hoping retail investors will jump in and buy pressure will get the price up to $54.20 at which point I fully expect for him to say that he’s changed his mind because blah, blah, blah and that he sold his shares. After which the price will plummet back down to before he became involved, or worse. Meanwhile he’s laughing all the way to the bank because he doubled his own investment.
He did the same thing with Dogecoin. Repeatedly. His followers are too enamoured of this moron to realize he’s just using them …. lying, cheating and stealing their $$$.
Concur with everyone re pump and dump. He has a well established history of doing this.
He’s a sicko.
Yeah, if that happens I will also delete my account. I have no time for fascists.
He’s going to bring back Trump isn’t he? Oh lawd he coming…and I haven’t even recovered from the last time Trump had reign
His greed is beyond repulsive. There’s no downside here for someone like him. Whatever happens, he gets his boatload of attention and revels in being an industrial-strength asshole. And he may get rewarded with a boatload of money if he drives up the stock price short-term and then dumps some of his shares at the height of it.
He triggers my anxiety as well.Something very creepy and off about him.We can’t all be wrong.
Elon needs a time out. Maybe he can travel on his own spaceship to Mars.
Yikes. No. I barely use twitter now as it is. Fuck this guy; he sets off every alarm bell there is. He’s just a slimeball.