Interesting Twitter Development

[TitanTiger 20,472]

I don't think the solution to Twitter's problems is Elon Musk, but this was funny...

[TexasTiger 12,829]

52 minutes ago, wdefromtx said:

Well, could you imagine the press conferences? 
 

Reporter: President Musk, what should we do about Putin?

Musk: Hits blunt

Reporter: ***Awkward silence***
Musk: Nuke ‘em 

Elon’s a brilliant guy with the emotional maturity of a teenager. Interesting guy, but folks that see him as Presidential material? 

[Auburnfan91 1,407]

Elon Musk to acquire Twitter in $44 billion deal

Brett Molina Terry Collins

USA TODAY

Published 9:33 a.m. ET April 25, 2022 - Updated 8:00 p.m. ET April 25, 2022

 

It's official: Elon Musk is set to buy Twitter.

The social media giant confirmed Monday the Tesla CEO and billionaire will acquire the company in a deal worth $44 billion. Once the deal is complete, which is expected by this year, Twitter will become a privately held company.

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk tweeted to his 84 million followers. "I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans." 

Shares of Twitter rose more than 5% in afternoon trading Monday. 

“Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world,” its CEO Parag Agrawal said in a tweet. “Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.”

Earlier Monday, Musk tweeted, "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means." The tweet has received more than 1.4 million likes.

Last week, Musk said he had lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter and had been continuing to negotiate with the company.

Musk has criticized how strictly Twitter moderates content on its platform. “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?" he tweeted this month.

Musk has scooped up a 9% stake in the company this month, which made him Twitter's largest shareholder. Twitter responded by announcing plans to have Musk join its board of directors. That deal would have prevented Musk from owning more than 14.9% of Twitter's outstanding stock for as long as he's a board member and for 90 days after. 

Days later, Agrawal tweeted that Musk had decided not to join the board. Musk then confirmed, in a regulatory filing, that he planned to acquire 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 said in the proposal. “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.”

Despite its cultural influence, Twitter, with an estimated 416 million weekly users as of April 16, according to data.ai, a mobile data and analytics platform, the platform has lagged behind social media rivals including the Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok. Other experts have Twitter at around 200 million users, far less than TikTok's 1 billion users, according to Backlinko.com. 

Twitter's lag includes being behind rivals in several key metrics including monthly active users and the number of weekly app downloads globally, data.ai, said.

“Twitter is a struggling company,” Sara Silver, a business journalism professor at Quinnipiac University, said in a statement. “It lost money the last two years and was only profitable in two of the last five. This contrasts sharply with Facebook owner Meta, Alphabet’s Google, and other highly profitable social media platforms."

Silver said Twitter's board had "no choice" but to take Musk's offer seriously. "With no profits, Twitter could not raise its stock price enough to satisfy investors. This gives a hefty premium to shareholders of at least 35 percent over its price before the offer."

And despite all of Musk's boasting about free speech and content moderation, he may have an opportunity to monetize a good product, said Callie Cox, an analyst for eToro, who has more than 25,000 Twitter followers.

"Profitability is what Twitter shareholders have been waiting for. New leadership could provide new thoughts on how to improve and monetize the platform," said Cox, who considers herself a "power user" on Twitter. "And with such a high stake in the business, he could be under more pressure to perform."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2022/04/25/elon-musk-twitter-ownership-deal/7437519001/

[wdefromtx 3,159]

19 minutes ago, Auburnfan91 said:

Elon Musk to acquire Twitter in $44 billion deal

Brett Molina Terry Collins

USA TODAY

Published 9:33 a.m. ET April 25, 2022 - Updated 8:00 p.m. ET April 25, 2022

 

It's official: Elon Musk is set to buy Twitter.

The social media giant confirmed Monday the Tesla CEO and billionaire will acquire the company in a deal worth $44 billion. Once the deal is complete, which is expected by this year, Twitter will become a privately held company.

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk tweeted to his 84 million followers. "I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans." 

Shares of Twitter rose more than 5% in afternoon trading Monday. 

“Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world,” its CEO Parag Agrawal said in a tweet. “Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.”

Earlier Monday, Musk tweeted, "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means." The tweet has received more than 1.4 million likes.

Last week, Musk said he had lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter and had been continuing to negotiate with the company.

Musk has criticized how strictly Twitter moderates content on its platform. “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?" he tweeted this month.

Musk has scooped up a 9% stake in the company this month, which made him Twitter's largest shareholder. Twitter responded by announcing plans to have Musk join its board of directors. That deal would have prevented Musk from owning more than 14.9% of Twitter's outstanding stock for as long as he's a board member and for 90 days after. 

Days later, Agrawal tweeted that Musk had decided not to join the board. Musk then confirmed, in a regulatory filing, that he planned to acquire 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 said in the proposal. “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.”

Despite its cultural influence, Twitter, with an estimated 416 million weekly users as of April 16, according to data.ai, a mobile data and analytics platform, the platform has lagged behind social media rivals including the Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok. Other experts have Twitter at around 200 million users, far less than TikTok's 1 billion users, according to Backlinko.com. 

Twitter's lag includes being behind rivals in several key metrics including monthly active users and the number of weekly app downloads globally, data.ai, said.

“Twitter is a struggling company,” Sara Silver, a business journalism professor at Quinnipiac University, said in a statement. “It lost money the last two years and was only profitable in two of the last five. This contrasts sharply with Facebook owner Meta, Alphabet’s Google, and other highly profitable social media platforms."

Silver said Twitter's board had "no choice" but to take Musk's offer seriously. "With no profits, Twitter could not raise its stock price enough to satisfy investors. This gives a hefty premium to shareholders of at least 35 percent over its price before the offer."

And despite all of Musk's boasting about free speech and content moderation, he may have an opportunity to monetize a good product, said Callie Cox, an analyst for eToro, who has more than 25,000 Twitter followers.

"Profitability is what Twitter shareholders have been waiting for. New leadership could provide new thoughts on how to improve and monetize the platform," said Cox, who considers herself a "power user" on Twitter. "And with such a high stake in the business, he could be under more pressure to perform."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2022/04/25/elon-musk-twitter-ownership-deal/7437519001/

 

[auburn41 492]

On 4/15/2022 at 3:50 PM, CoffeeTiger said:

Ultimately, I don't think Musk's plan to buy Twitter will succeed. 

Twitter's board will 100% decline his offer and some top twitter stock holders have already come out publicly stating they think Musk's offer is way too low to consider. Twitter has also put into place a "shareholder rights plan" so that if Musk tries a hostile buyout and acquires more than 15% of the company stock, all other investors will be able to buy more stock at a cheaper discount making Musk's share less valuable and making it much more costly for Musk to buy up more. 

Maybe Musk will surprise by doing something crazy (entirely possible), but the most likely outcome is he just sells his 9% of shares for a profit and just moves on to something else to amuse himself. 

Wow, you nailed that one (just like usual)! 😀

[TexasTiger 12,829]

I don’t know exactly what Musk taking over Twitter will lead to, but I see some pretty strong overreactions on both sides. I know he’ll love the attention, at least at first. He’s a bit like Trump in that regard. It will likely ultimately prove a distraction from other projects, although he’ll use it to elevate them. It will also prove far more difficult to manage than he thinks. And I suspect he loses money. But I think it’s a rich guy ego purchase.

 

[TexasTiger 12,829]

Of course, they had to borrow the $50:

 

[DKW 86 7,419]

On 4/15/2022 at 2:31 PM, bigbird said:

The same people that cheered are now up in arms. 

What's that called?

Yea, My Side Good, All Others Bad. And yes, the chattering classes in America are indeed just this shallow. 

[DKW 86 7,419]

8 hours ago, TexasTiger said:

 

Everything stereotypically wrong with my side of the room in one take. Kudos. 

[DKW 86 7,419]

This is my favorite thread on this forum. 
 

The pro-censorship people getting owned. Truly funny seeing them try and explain how Free Speech is a bad thing. As usual, a younger generation now tries to explain how they have emerged from the womb as the perfect humans that can just intuitively devine the perfect way a democracy should be run. Same folks that think Communism just needs one more try, that it wasn’t done the right way. If only they had been allowed to kill the 65M Mao massacred it all would have gone better. 
 

Mankind is still making the same mistakes it has always made since the first recorded history. We are not evolving at all. We are more narcissistic and arrogant than ever before. 
 

It is truly funny tho. George Carlin has to be somewhere laughing his ass off, but at the same time crying that the colleges that made him famous would never allow him to speak there now. 

[wdefromtx 3,159]

[AU9377 4,924]

It isn't as though he is spending all of his own money.  The majority is debt financing.

[AUFAN78 3,894]

On 4/25/2022 at 11:42 PM, TexasTiger said:

Of course, they had to borrow the $50:

 

Damn they are rich!

 

[TexasTiger 12,829]

https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/elon-musk-probably-wont-buy-twitter-2022-04-27/

[alexava 6,973]

[auburn41 492]

You just can't make this stuff up.  The Disinformation Czar is a Left Wing Hack.  The equivalent on this board would be making Coffee, Homer or McDoofus the Disinformation Czar!

https://nypost.com/2022/04/28/who-thought-a-clearly-partisan-hack-should-be-bidens-disinformation-czar/

[wdefromtx 3,159]

20 minutes ago, auburn41 said:

You just can't make this stuff up.  The Disinformation Czar is a Left Wing Hack.  The equivalent on this board would be making Coffee, Homer or McDoofus the Disinformation Czar!

https://nypost.com/2022/04/28/who-thought-a-clearly-partisan-hack-should-be-bidens-disinformation-czar/

Does it surprise you though? 
 

Looks like Biden has taken us a step closer to Nazi Germany. 

[wdefromtx 3,159]

[CoffeeTiger 5,099]

3 hours ago, auburn41 said:

You just can't make this stuff up.  The Disinformation Czar is a Left Wing Hack.  The equivalent on this board would be making Coffee, Homer or McDoofus the Disinformation Czar!

https://nypost.com/2022/04/28/who-thought-a-clearly-partisan-hack-should-be-bidens-disinformation-czar/

[I_M4_AU 7,794]

 

 

[DKW 86 7,419]

8 hours ago, I_M4_AU said:

 

Did Musk really tweet this? This is approximately how Reagan described his shift from Democrat to Republican in 1980. 

My own story would look like the exact opposite of this from 1990 up until a few years ago.

Suddenly I feel like Mr Musk again after say 2018.

This is how Maher and so many more are describing themselves today as well.

Edited April 30, 2022 by DKW 86

[I_M4_AU 7,794]

8 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

Did Musk really tweet this? This is approximately how Reagan described his shift from Democrat to Republican in 1980. 

My own story would look like the exact opposite of this from 1990 up until a few years ago.

Suddenly I feel like Mr Musk again after say 2018.

This is how Maher and so many more are describing themselves today as well.

Yeah, he did tweet this.  The first time I saw it I also thought of Maher as he recently said he hadn't changed, but the left has changed.

I saw this when the Democrats had one of their debates for the 2020 nominee.  Each candidate was stumbling over themselves to see how far left they could get. It was solidified when Biden won the election.  JMO.

[DKW 86 7,419]

1 hour ago, I_M4_AU said:

Yeah, he did tweet this.  The first time I saw it I also thought of Maher as he recently said he hadn't changed, but the left has changed.

I saw this when the Democrats had one of their debates for the 2020 nominee.  Each candidate was stumbling over themselves to see how far left they could get. It was solidified when Biden won the election.  JMO.

In truth, both parties are running further to the extremes. It is not a simple linear thing though.

While I, as a Prog, want M4A, some tuition help, regulated pharma, Raised minimum wage, I do not in anyway want DTP, blind endorsement of BLM, nor a war on the police. 
IOW, I want to be a Sane Prog. instead the DNC went over board for the stupid/extreme stuff and ignored my side's wants. We didnt even get a vote for the Minimum Wage. 

Republicans are the same. Most are not trumpsters but are kidnapped by his crazies at this point. Maga Mo Brooks? I cant even recognize the man I met back in the 90s anymore. Are there sane Reps these days? I truly dont know any more.

Biden, has never been a Progressive. He wrote the 1994 Crime Bill. he has supported EVERY WAR since he was elected. He is more RED than BLUE. To get elected he had to concede things to the Extremists and here we are. Biden is no progressive in any way and never intended to do anything like being a prog. he just had to play the role to win the nomination. Now, he cant deliver what he likely never intended to deliver and now the Extremists are beyond rationally pissed about it. You know, an animal cant suddenly become its polar opposite. I guess Biden is now living proof of:

[I_M4_AU 7,794]

55 minutes ago, DKW 86 said:

In truth, both parties are running further to the extremes. It is not a simple linear thing though.

While I, as a Prog, want M4A, some tuition help, regulated pharma, Raised minimum wage, I do not in anyway want DTP, blind endorsement of BLM, nor a war on the police. 
IOW, I want to be a Sane Prog. instead the DNC went over board for the stupid/extreme stuff and ignored my side's wants. We didnt even get a vote for the Minimum Wage. 

Republicans are the same. Most are not trumpsters but are kidnapped by his crazies at this point. Maga Mo Brooks? I cant even recognize the man I met back in the 90s anymore. Are there sane Reps these days? I truly dont know any more.

Biden, has never been a Progressive. He wrote the 1994 Crime Bill. he has supported EVERY WAR since he was elected. He is more RED than BLUE. To get elected he had to concede things to the Extremists and here we are. Biden is no progressive in any way and never intended to do anything like being a prog. he just had to play the role to win the nomination. Now, he cant deliver what he likely never intended to deliver and now the Extremists are beyond rationally pissed about it. You know, an animal cant suddenly become its polar opposite. I guess Biden is now living proof of:

There is no doubt the Republicans have their extremists. The fascination with Trump is he fought back when he knew he had nothing to do with Russia. The man never gave up despite the unbelievable pressure put on him by the Dems and press.  I was amazed he was able to accomplish some of the policies he was successful implementing.

That all ended with his reaction to the election results and I am ready to move on, but I do defend a conservative approach and I am looking for a candidate that will stand up for conservative values.  The pushback from the craziness is taken by the left as racist, homophobe, anti-trans etc and no one wants to parse the issue down.  This has been done for years like BLM (the organization) can not be criticized as if you said anything negative you were immediately shut down.

Biden may be a centrist, but it is obvious he is not in control.  I can’t believe he now has a Ministry of Truth.  The man just reads from the teleprompter and is not allowed to speak from the heart.  Every time he attempts to talk from the heart the Easter Bunny shows up. As to acting like an extremist to secure the nomination; you reap what you sow.

2024 will be more than interesting.  It seems like it will boil down to the economy and what comes out of the investigations after the 2022 mid term.

[homersapien 11,362]

Anyone who really believes its Democrats have become more extreme and Republican haven't changed in the last 15 years is operating with an agenda.

BLM is not extreme.  And "defund the police" is not a Democratic position.

Republicans are now the party of Trump and white nationalism, a.k.a Fascists.