Elon Musk - the world's "greatest" spiv?

[brad465]

Elon Musk recently bought a load of shares in Twitter, and after turning down an offer to join the board, has made an offer to buy the platform:

Elon Musk makes offer to buy Twitter

The boss of Tesla claims he wants to unlock the social media platform's "extraordinary potential".

www.bbc.co.uk

Tesla boss Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter, saying he is the right person to "unlock" the social media platform's "extraordinary potential".
In a surprise announcement, Mr Musk said he would pay $54.20 a share for Twitter, valuing the firm at $41bn.
It recently emerged that Mr Musk was Twitter's biggest shareholder after he built up a large stake in the firm.
He said that if his offer was not accepted: "I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder".
In a filing with the US financial regulator, Mr Musk said: "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.
"However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company."
He added: "Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it."
Twitter had offered Mr Musk a seat on its board after it emerged that he held a 9.2% stake in the company.
The role was set to become effective last weekend but then Mr Musk decided against taking it.
Twitter's chief executive Parag Agrawal tweeted that he thought the decision by Mr Musk not take a seat on the board was "for the best".
He added: "We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our board or not. Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input."
Though he also warned staff: "There will be distractions ahead."
After that announcement, Mr Musk posted a cryptic tweet of smiling emoji with its hand over its mouth.

To me this sounds like his latest pump and dump trick, which he was believed to have also done with his "Funding Secured!" announcement regarding making Tesla private, and his purchases of Bitcoin and Dogecoin. Much of this should be illegal, but I suspect Musk knows where all the loopholes are.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don't care what he does, it's his money and he can spend it as he wishes. I have no interest in buying any of his overpriced products so I'm not contributing. He can sit there with James Dyson with regard to overpriced, not overly good products.

 

[Lucan]

I don't care what he does, it's his money and he can spend it as he wishes.

But only if it is legal, and he has a habit of spending other people's money too. He is currently being sued by some major Tesla shareholders for using Tesla money to bail out his failing Solar City solar panel company back in 2016.

Musk is basically a salesman, and a fraudulant one at that. He gets away with it much of the time because he is the media's darling for creating spectacular publicity events and appearing on TV chat shows, and the media have short memories anyway. They could suddenly turn round and crucify him and probably will one day - he will go down like another Robert Maxwell. For some reason some people think he is a genius, especially Americans who tend to measure people by their wealth, although Musk's wealth is mostly in Tesla shares which would bomb in value if he started selling them.

 

[pdeaves]

He said that if his offer was not accepted: "I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder".

"If you won't do things my way, I'm not playing any more"

 

[Bletchleyite]

"If you won't do things my way, I'm not playing any more"

They can of course say "So?"

 

[pdeaves]

They can of course say "So?"

Definitely. Whilst I don't particularly care for Twitter, I hope they do!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

They can of course say "So?"

Not always a good tactic for the Board to adopt when dealing with a significant shareholder. If the deal goes ahead, you're likely to be out of a job, and if it doesn't, and Mr. Musk decides to peremptorily offload his (9%?) shareholding all in one go, the share price is possibly going to tank, which isn't going to "deliver value" to the remaining shareholders.

 

[Bertie the bus]

Musk is little different to most of the so-called disruptors. Their main disruption tactic is to ignore laws that exist to protect workers, consumers or investors in order to enrich themselves. It just shows how superficial and stupid the world has become when many are worshipped when they have fewer morals than the worst 19th century industrialists.

 

[Pinza-C55]

I've read that the left is worried about Musk buying Twitter because some regard Twitter as a left wing dominated echo chamber and they are fearful of Musk making it a genuinely open platform. I don't know if this is true and I don't have a Twitter account.

 

[Busaholic]

I've read that the left is worried about Musk buying Twitter because some regard Twitter as a left wing dominated echo chamber and they are fearful of Musk making it a genuinely open platform. I don't know if this is true and I don't have a Twitter account.

Musk is the sort of 'liberationist' who is only concerned that he be allowed to say exactly what he wants without any accountability, but as soon as someone else is perceived as criticising him his Trump-like thin skin is on show and the bully boy comes out. He's a revolting person in every way.

 

[AlterEgo]

I've read that the left is worried about Musk buying Twitter because some regard Twitter as a left wing dominated echo chamber and they are fearful of Musk making it a genuinely open platform. I don't know if this is true and I don't have a Twitter account.

The left simply want the current cabal of unaccountable plutocrats, which include techbros and a Saudi prince, who own Twitter to keep running it, rather than Musk, another unaccountable plutocrat.

I trust we will no longer hear the refrain of “hey it’s a private company” any more when people defend the board’s decisions.

 

[brad465]

I've read that the left is worried about Musk buying Twitter because some regard Twitter as a left wing dominated echo chamber and they are fearful of Musk making it a genuinely open platform. I don't know if this is true and I don't have a Twitter account.

Anyone can sign up to Twitter, other than those who contravened the rules enough to get permanent suspensions. Therefore, if those not on the left believe it's a left wing echo chamber, all they need to do is get more with alternative views signing up and using it.

I stand by the argument that this move isn't about free speech, it's just Musk trying another pump and dump trick.

 

[birchesgreen]

I've read that the left is worried about Musk buying Twitter because some regard Twitter as a left wing dominated echo chamber and they are fearful of Musk making it a genuinely open platform. I don't know if this is true and I don't have a Twitter account.

I find twitter pretty right wing at times personally, though i do use it myself and don't rely on vague innuendo.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I've read that the left is worried about Musk buying Twitter because some regard Twitter as a left wing dominated echo chamber and they are fearful of Musk making it a genuinely open platform. I don't know if this is true and I don't have a Twitter account.

Twitter is a group of echo chambers who block each other if they don't agree with the extreme views they profess. It is a very frustrating place for a moderate.

 

[birchesgreen]

Twitter is a group of echo chambers who block each other if they don't agree with the extreme views they profess. It is a very frustrating place for a moderate.

Or you can ignore both extremes and just follow stuff you are interested in. It doesn't HAVE to be politics on your timeline if you don't want it.

 

[brad465]

Twitter is a group of echo chambers who block each other if they don't agree with the extreme views they profess. It is a very frustrating place for a moderate.

It, along with most other social media, is a prefect demonstration of why some technology being invented is not always "progress".

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I find twitter pretty right wing at times personally, though i do use it myself and don't rely on vague innuendo.

Given that people on the right think Twitter is a left-wing echo chamber, and people on the left think it's a bastion of alt-right demagoguery, it raises a few questions... the principal one being "why then is it so popular?"

As far as Musk goes, the one thing in his favour is that he doesn't seem to care too much if people don't like him. If he decides to spend his time acquiring Twitter shares instead of conning cities into buying into his gadgetbahns, that will probably be a good thing.

 

[birchesgreen]

Given that people on the right think Twitter is a left-wing echo chamber, and people on the left think it's a bastion of alt-right demagoguery, it raises a few questions... the principal one being "why then is it so popular?"

Because most users arn't interested in that kind of tit for tat sectarian BS, they use it for other purposes like following pop stars they like, keeping up with their profession, science, or even... gasp... railways!

 

[LUYMun]

Musk is nothing short of a terrible Thomas Edison - he "reinvents" services or products that become inferior to the mainstream standard. For example, his idea of an extensive network of car tunnels in cities so as "to solve traffic" (oft quoted) have been the subject to great scrutiny over its inefficiency in transporting people compared to rail tunnels, even well before the fruition of the Vegas Loop. I'm glad that he isn't being taken seriously in this aspect - he'll have a bit of trouble competing against the London Underground!

 

[birchesgreen]

Musk is nothing short of a terrible Thomas Edison - he "reinvents" services or products that become inferior to the mainstream standard. For example, his idea of an extensive network of car tunnels in cities so as "to solve traffic" (oft quoted) have been the subject to great scrutiny over its inefficiency in transporting people compared to rail tunnels, even well before the fruition of the Vegas Loop. I'm glad that he isn't being taken seriously in this aspect - he'll have a bit of trouble competing against the London Underground!

Some of the concept videos going around are so (unintentionally) hilarious though, always useful if you need cheering up!

 

[gingerheid]

He is the most amazing marketing bloke the world ever saw, but in doing so is a perfect example of why the world does in fact need a certain amount of the regulation that he hates. Twitter needs to not be turned into a new 8chan in the same way as Tesla needs to be prevented from blacklisting owners and refusing things like spare parts!

How he got people to fall for Las Vegas Loop or Hyperloop I will never know. While lots of people have found self driving cars are in fact more complicated than they thought, he's the only person to over promise so comprehensively, attempt to base it on apparently insufficient technology, and charge customers for the product that doesn't yet exist!

 

[birchesgreen]

They used to say that Steve Jobs had a reality distortion field around him, Musk has that in spades.

 

[jon0844]

They used to say that Steve Jobs had a reality distortion field around him, Musk has that in spades.

Steve Jobs died before social media has become what it has today, so if we imagine the cult like followers he had - it's nothing to what Elon has today.

I expect this thread will be okay, but try saying even a fraction of this on Twitter or a Facebook group and you'll be hounded forever more by the fanboys who will seek to make your life hell. They'll dox you, make videos about you and mark you so they can see what you say in the future.

These followers will ensure that Elon gets away with his ridiculous claims (I expect I/we will do xxxx in the next year) and is never questioned. Nor will they see an issue with his pump and dump scams, or how he takes deposits for vapourware and uses that to keep his businesses afloat because they arguably aren't doing quite as well as he'd like to pretend.

 

[birchesgreen]

I expect this thread will be okay, but try saying even a fraction of this on Twitter or a Facebook group and you'll be hounded forever more by the fanboys who will seek to make your life hell. They'll dox you, make videos about you and mark you so they can see what you say in the future.

These followers will ensure that Elon gets away with his ridiculous claims (I expect I/we will do xxxx in the next year) and is never questioned. Nor will they see an issue with his pump and dump scams, or how he takes deposits for vapourware and uses that to keep his businesses afloat because they arguably aren't doing quite as well as he'd like to pretend.

As the meme shows

 

[jon0844]

Wow, Google and it's algorithms - which has just recommended this video:

YouTube link to a video titled 'The Cult of Musk'.

Note: I haven't watched it yet.

 

[Lucan]

YouTube link to a video titled 'The Cult of Musk'.

I do watch Thunderf00t's videos, but I would not describe myself as a fan. I don't like his "crowing" style and he keeps repeating himself. Thunderfoot is a competent scientist, but I am an engineer and I find him a bit weak when it comes to engineering. Moreover, Thunderfoot does not mention railways very much (he seems more of a bus and aircraft guy) which is odd because a lot of what Musk does is motivated by his hatred of railways.

However, Thunderf00t has an almost unrivalled knowledge of "Muskology". He draws on his archives of the media coverage of Musk and of his publicity material (including the embarassing stuff that Musk's companies or his fans have tried to sweep under the carpet) to show the vast gulf that exists between what Musk promises and what Musk delivers.

 

[jon0844]

I agree that he does repeat himself and waffles quite a lot, and I think in the past YouTube required longer videos to have any chance of them being promoted. Solar roadways and Hyperloop being good examples.

Now it seems he's had many videos 'ghosted', which makes it quite odd that following my talk of Elon this video got recommended to me on my news feed.

 

[takno]

I agree that he does repeat himself and waffles quite a lot, and I think in the past YouTube required longer videos to have any chance of them being promoted. Solar roadways and Hyperloop being good examples.

Now it seems he's had many videos 'ghosted', which makes it quite odd that following my talk of Elon this video got recommended to me on my news feed.

YouTube seem to have some really odd global cues which seem to have been manually added at the top, like the algorithm absolutely loves people who put a picture of themselves doing a stupid face accompanied by a provocative question in the video thumbnail. Stuff like downvotes doesn't get treated globally though - the algorithm is more than capable of identifying two sides in a debate and providing each of them with a soundproofed echo chamber where only videos they agree with will get promoted.

 

[Eyersey468]

To be honest I don't have any time for Musk and am not interested in buying any of his overpriced products either

 

[AlterEgo]

Looks like he's buying Twitter. https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/elon-musk-twitter-bid-poem-b2065025.html

Elon Musk has urged his “worst critics” to stay on Twitter as the platform’s board is expected to accept the Tesla titan’s $43bn cash offer for the company.

Mr Musk took to Twitter amid reports he could become its owner as early as Monday, and wrote, “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.”

The entrepreneur has made the free speech issue a central one in his attempted takeover of the platform, leaving his critics to suggest that he will allow banned right-wing figures such as Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene back.