💲Elon Musk owns Twitter. So... what now?

A guide for the perplexed: Context Collapse #164

Oct 28, 2022

It’s official: Elon Musk now owns Twitter.

Congratulations to Mr. Musk, who has purchased a troubled-but-wildly influential social media platform that has historically struggled to make money from the people who use it for free.

Congratulations also to the execs Musk fired as soon as he took over—CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde—who are taking big paychecks home because they got fired.

You see, there are two financial classes in this world: People who become poorer when they lose their job and people who become richer when they lose their job. Musk or no Musk, it’s good to be a Twitter exec.

So what happens now?

I can’t read minds. I interviewed Musk for Fast Company in 2011 and found him to be a smart and media savvy executive who was more comfortable discussing technical details than making interview small talk. I also can’t pretend that a one-hour work meeting with a corporate executive a decade ago gives me any special insight. But my guess?

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Status quo & incremental changes.

Over the past few years, Musk has leaned hard into professional eccentricity and trollish behavior in the public sphere while simultaneously running Tesla and SpaceX (and now Twitter).

Musk’s new toy, which he’s tried to get out of buying many times, has a massive user base and a historic inability to actually make money as a business concern.

As hard as Musk works, I have doubts about the ability of any human being to run three large corporations at the same time.

I expect to see Twitter try to roll out more advertising products and expand monetizing programs like Super Follows. Kanye West is back on the platform and I expect that Musk will reinstate Donald Trump’s account. I expect Musk will use Twitter to his political benefit in other ways. I expect Musk will introduce a few high-profile adjustments to Twitter before becoming bored. I expect Twitter under Musk’s ownership to either continue on its current pathway of benign neglect or have a Musk-appointed micromanager.

Other takes I like:

The Wall Street Journal’s Patience Haggin & Suzanne Vranica: “Elon Musk Says Twitter Won’t Be ‘Free-for-All Hellscape,’ Addressing Advertisers’ Concerns.

Micah Sifry: “Elon Musk: “Après Moi, Le Déluge””

Rob Lennon on Musk Twitter from a growth perspective.