Could X go bankrupt under Elon Musk?
Could X go bankrupt under Elon Musk?
Musk's profane attack on advertisers baffled experts - without adverts, how would X survive?
I honestly think that he doesn't have to face consequences like normal people because he has enough money to make problems go away. He can be an awful person in interviews, and mean his words too, then even bankrupt his company, and you know what? He will continue being excessively rich.
His money could be used to fix so many issues en masse. It's disgusting that he chooses not to do so every day.
"I don't have any theories that make sense," Paskalis says. "There is a revenue model in his head that eludes me."
You don't need a complex business model for this to make sense. The man has had "fuck you money" his entire life. Things are finally not going his way and he only has one way to respond..... by saying "fuck you" to the people he doesn't like.
I liked Twitter. I know it's a cesspit, but as a software engineer it was always the top company I wanted to work at. It didn't work out (for several funny reasons), but for that selfish reason I'll never forgive Musk.
IMO, Musk needs help. If he were a normal person, someone would have pushed him to leave work and find help. As the owner of three companies, responsible for tens of thousands of employees, no chance is he getting that help. He's constantly baited and prodded by his fan boys, people like Rogan and Chappelle who can deal with that kind of fame, and the press that get content from his antics.
As for Twitter, I don't see it dying, until it fails to have a use for Musk. My initial belief was that his "everything app" would use Twitter's account system to get all of its users, and then he'd sell Twitter and continue with the users - but that app isn't ever happening. It's just something he's desperate to ditch, but his vanity and poor mental health won't let him do it. For that reason, it'll just be a zombie app.
The fact it hasn't imploded a long time ago is proof that digital platforms need to be regulated to enforce interoperability.
Since this shitshow started, I have not heard from anyone that wanted to be on Twitter. In anything resembling a free market, these customers (both advertisers and users) could freely go to a competitor.
But due to the way platforms work, no one can compete, once a dominant platform emerges. A platform has a monopoly on all the things people built on top of the platform (content, software etc.). This monopoly kills the free market. Enforced interoperability would reduce this platform effect and help out competitors.
The EU is starting to tackle that, with the Digital Markets Act, but very few companies are targeted so far, even though the whole industry is plagued by quasi-monopolistic platforms that are universally agreed upon to be trash.
We're scheduled to find out.
Morally or financially?
Both, right?
Pretty sure it's an inevitability at this point and Musk knows it, which is precisely why he's fueling the flames of the whole ad situation. Since the whole controversy are both about the Jews (as in antisemitism) and advertisers, they can be blamed for the death of the platform instead of business decisions by Musk.
There's also the possibility that some right-wing billionaires who really love to spread their propaganda using twitter are going to buy the company or bail it out or whatever, but that remains to be seen
This was a hit job and news outlets are trying to pretend it's an accident.
Go F Yourself meltdown is probably the final nail in the coffin. It does seem like space nazi knows it's doomed. Anyone know what happens when bankruptcy happens? Does creditors take over the company? Does he get sued for negligence? Does it get sold to a highest bidder for pennies on the dollar? I'm hoping someone can enlighten us.
Yes
Elon made deals w/ hedge funds to funnel him money as they shorted the stock (not to mention 100x leverage derivatives against TSLA). Because Twitter is collateralized against his wonder-child.
Since canceling his PR team, Elon's entire MO has been to run it into the ground in a manner that seems plausible to the SEC so he doesn't get out-right sued.
He just isn't this stupid, whether you want him to be or not.
"Fuck you" to his advertisers seems like a fairly on-brand way to telegraph his true intentions. I really look forward to a point where we can forget about his relevance when all 3 companies bite the dust.
It almost certainly will. Dude's a fuckin' dipshit.
Could?!
its the whole point. the guy is tanking the business while providing legal cover for doing so. he will default on what he can, let the saudis eat bunch of it and call it a FUCKING WIN.
why you people keep expecting muskrburger to be doing anything but destroying twitter is beyond me. his actions are obvious and have literally nothing to do with generating revenue.
I just don’t care anymore. I hope far worse for Elon and every other rich asshole piñatas that exist.
🤞
That's his goal. It always has been. He was forced to buy. His solution? The world's biggest tax write off. Yet everyone is determined to keep him in the news like he actually cares about it.
I hope so.
I hope so, for the lolz
His interview certainly lent some additional weight to the theories that he's been trying to run the company into the ground the whole time.
I think Twitter is going down, may or may not go bankrupt but I think it will lose relevance. Wonder if it will be replaced. Lots of people (myself included) kinda assume that bluesky, mastodon or some other twitter-like service will take over. But Twitter is not really necessary, so I don't think it's a given that something will take its place.
As a time sink, more multimedia-oriented platforms like Reddit/Lemmy, Instagram, Tiktok or Youtube, seem more attractive.
It's well on it's way
Meelon Husk
Asking if X will go bankrupt is not the right question. Elon has many untapped reserves of cash that he could use at any time to continue to pay the bills.
The guy just needs to speculate publicly on a cool sounding idea and a billion dollars in cash will fall out of a tree somewhere. That is his level of social status.
Bankruptcy happens when a company is imminently falling apart because there is no cash and a creditor repossessing things may disrupt other higher priority creditors. Therefore a judge needs to add order to the process which puts a legal hold on a lot of things. Unless Elon has some dramatic personal meltdown way beyond what we've already seen, that's really unlikely.
The real question is... How does Elon plan on making a profit from this thing if he's insulting those who are paying his bills today? He did float the idea of creating a super app that might handle payments and many other features. That has the potential to be a massive profit center if executed with precision. Perhaps the Twitter user base can be converted... Which would mean advertisers are no longer needed.
I would not be surprised if such a thing is in the works and would be announced when it's almost ready to launch.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The companies paused adverts after an investigation by a US organisation, Media Matters for America, flagged ads appearing next to pro-Nazi posts.
In a fiery interview on Wednesday, Musk also used the "b" word - bankruptcy, in a sign of just how much the ad boycott is damaging the company's bottom line.
Mark Gay, chief client officer at marketing consultancy at Ebiquity, which works with hundreds of companies, says there is no sign anyone is returning.
When Musk puts chief executives "in his crosshairs" like this they will be even more reticent to be involved with X, says Lou Paskalis, of marketing consultancy AJL Advisory.
Jasmine Enberg, principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, adds: "It doesn't take a social media expert to understand and to know that publicly and personally attacking advertisers and companies that pay X's bills is not going to be good for business."
According to the New York Times, which got hold of the pitch deck Musk was giving to investors last year, X was supposed to bring in $15m from a payments business in 2023, growing to about $1.3bn by 2028.
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Let's hope it doesn't, I don't want those racist idiots joining any of the other social networks. Let it become the acceptable 4chan.... to siphon off the scum of the internet so that we don't have to deal with them.
Hopefully. It's a huge pile of trash.
Now even Betteridge's law is dead.
Wait, it hasn't yet!?