back to article Elon Musk's latest launch: An unsolicited Twitter takeover

The Twitter-Elon-Musk saga has taken another turn, with the tech billionaire tabling an offer of $54.20 per share to buy the website outright. Musk snapped up a 9.2 percent stake in the company in March (disclosed via SEC filing on April 4) but it was announced earlier this week that he would not be taking a seat on the …

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Sorry Elon, but what's the point ?

            There is already a flow of people leaving Twitter to decentralised alternatives since the Musk news came out.

            If Musk were to buy Twitter, open it up to Trump, the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and various terrorist groups, you can bet that many other people would leave too. And, more importantly, I suspect many official users would leave the platform too. Would governments or heads of state of countries in the developed world still want to have an account on Twitter? Would big brands still want to have a presence on Twitter if he would turn it (further) into a cess pit? Right now they are essentially providing free advertising for Twitter every time they say "Follow us on Twitter for updates on roadworks in your area".

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          Re: Sorry Elon, but what's the point ?

          "On the one hand, Musk could start Mutter and fail to get enough users to make it viable."

          I'm not sure the build fast, fail fast, learn, rebuild model works in this case :-)

          Although to be fair, I'd much rather see a Twitter crash'n'burn rather than a Falcon or Starship.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sorry Elon, but what's the point ?

      If he gets hold of Twitter then high on his list of things to do is to allow No 45 back on the service.

      The same goes for Marjorie 'Jewish Space Lasers' Taylor Greene.

      The new Messiah... aka Elon Musk will be applauded by his cult members. Controlling Twitter will give him a few million more disciples.

  1. NoneSuch Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Fixed it for you Elon.

    "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."

    Should read: I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be my platform for marketing spin around the globe, and I believe is necessary to silence my critics after consistently failing to deliver on multiple occasions.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Fixed it for you Elon.

      If a billionaire wanted to silence critics and spread their own message wouldn't they just buy a major national newspaper?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Fixed it for you Elon.

        It's touching that you think the dead tree press has that sort of influence any more.

        That approach didn't work for Bezos. He bought the Washington Post and there's plenty of critcism of that vile gazillionaire.

        Billionaires who want to silence critics and spread their own message only have to buy a few politicians.

        1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

          Re: Fixed it for you Elon.

          >It's touching that you think the dead tree press has that sort of influence any more.

          With young hip el'reg reading IT professionals = no

          With people that write to their congressperson = yes

          >That approach didn't work for Bezos. He bought the Washington Post and there's plenty of critcism of that vile gazillionaire.

          Although it's stance on unions seems to have shifted recently

          1. heyrick Silver badge
            Happy

            Re: Fixed it for you Elon.

            "With young hip el'reg reading IT professionals"

            Aw, thanks.

            But I haven't been young for too many decades, and I was never hip.

            1. Steve K

              Re: Fixed it for you Elon.

              “Hip replacement” maybe for many of us….

              1. Tom 7

                Re: Fixed it for you Elon.

                Hipster Replacement.

        2. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

          If Elon wants to fix things, avoid the obvious glaring mistakes ....

          Billionaires who want to silence critics and spread their own message only have to buy a few politicians. .... Anonymous Coward

          That’s a waste of time, effort and money nowadays, AC, for nobody believes what politicians say or promise what to do. Don’t you read the news and not see the evidence of their fanciful lies in all of their pathetic glory?

          Where have you been? Somewhere strange and foreign?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: If Elon wants to fix things, avoid the obvious glaring mistakes ....

            You clearly need to return to your home planet.

            Billionaires and crooks don't buy politicians for their words and worthless promises. They buy politicians to get influence, pick up juicy government contracts/assets, make life difficult for their critics, get taxpayer money to prop up their dodgy businesses and/or wacky conspiracy theories, etc, etc.

      2. werdsmith Silver badge

        Re: Fixed it for you Elon.

        A national newspaper = 19th century technology with fast dwindling circulation? Increasingly irrelevant and even tabloid depths of scumminess have been surpassed by social media.

    3. Arthur the cat Silver badge
      Megaphone

      Re: Fixed it for you Elon.

      the platform for free speech

      Anyone who thinks free speech needs a single technological platform has rather misunderstood what free speech is.

  2. fxkeh

    Funds?

    I wonder how's he going to pay for it. He may be "worth" $300m but almost all of that value is in shares of companies - mainly Telsa - he's not going to have $40m sitting in a bank account. Sell some of his Telsa shares? (Would he risk becoming the non-top shareholder in the company he's most associated with?)

    1. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge

      Re: Funds?

      Paradoxically I think the practice with super rich people like that is actually to borrow the money. The lender knows that you should be good for it, as you have that worth in stock. Lots of empires (Trump comes immediately to mind) are built on debt.

      1. Ian Johnston Silver badge

        Re: Funds?

        I read somewhere that Trump is so heavily in debt that his net worth is significantly less than zero.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Funds?

          Trump is so heavily in debt that his net worth is significantly less than zero.

          As a certain Sergeant-Major Williams once put it, and I think rather succinctly, "oh, dear, how sad, never mind"

          1. Natalie Gritpants Jr

            Re: Funds?

            Pretty sure it was: "Oh dear. How sad. What a pity"

            1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
              Facepalm

              Re: Funds?

              "NFT of Jack Dorsey's first tweet struggles to sell"

              https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61102759

              The buyer of a non-fungible token (NFT) of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's first tweet says he "may never sell it" after receiving a series of low bids.

              Malaysia-based Sina Estavi has been offered just over $6,200 (£4,720), about 0.2% of the $2.9m he paid for it.

              "Oh dear. How sad. What a pity"

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Facepalm

                Re: Funds?

                And to bring it full circle Sina Estavi just tweeted Elon "It's not good if the owner of the whole Twitter does not own the first tweet :)"

                Hope apparently springs eternal.

            2. veti Silver badge

              Re: Funds?

              Not in this case it wasn't.

        2. Paul Crawford Silver badge
          Trollface

          Re: Funds?

          Ah, that reminds me. How is Mr Trump's new social media platform doing?

          1. Strahd Ivarius Silver badge

            Re: Funds?

            Jimmy Carter is rumored to be ready to buy it for peanut

          2. chivo243 Silver badge
            Coat

            Re: Funds?

            Ah, that reminds me. How is Mr Trump's new social media platform doing?

            I think they're still waiting to break ground on that members only project, so it's most likely still underground!

            Thank you! Thank you! I'm here thru Easter :-}

            1. Someone Else Silver badge

              Re: Funds?

              Underground?

              Under water?

              You decide!

            2. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
              Trollface

              Re: Funds?

              "...members only project,"

              No. 45 could always host an "Only Fans" site - I'm sure there must be a gap in the market for fans of orange-hued septuagenarians

          3. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

            Re: Greater IntelAIgent Game Changer Fund Raisers

            Ah, that reminds me. How is Mr Trump's new social media platform doing? ..... Paul Crawford

            Can you imagine the revolutionary bumps a series of Donald and Elon puts/pumps and dumps would do for a novel and unconventional social media platform outside of traditionally established oppressive and coercive suppressive elite unelected office command and control ‽ .

            Do you think IT would prove remarkably popular and attractive and addictive when clearly providing hope and changes you can see, hear and experience ‽ .

            1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
              Joke

              Re: Greater IntelAIgent Game Changer Fund Raisers

              Great American Comedy Partnerships...

              Abbot and Costello,

              Burns and Allen,

              Laurel and Hardy,

              Tom and Jerry,

              Bert and Ernie,

              Cheech and Chong,

              Donald and Elon

      2. Helcat Silver badge

        Re: Funds?

        The point of wealth is it's the estimated value of what you own minus what you owe.

        Converting that wealth into money is a risk, and you lose value via capital gains tax (Capital Gains Tax is a tax on the profit when you sell (or 'dispose of') something (an 'asset') that's increased in value. ).

        It gets complicated with the various allowances and exceptions - and don't expect me to explain them as I'm not the right person to do so.

        Anyway, liquidating assets to gain money to buy something is very, very inefficient due to taxes. Instead it's better/cheaper to borrow against your assets to buy more assets then pay off the loan. It may be possible to sacrifice existing assets to do so, but that depends on the exceptions under Capital Gains.

        So no, it's not paradoxical: It's how to avoid liquidating $2m in assets just to make a $1m purchase.

        1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

          Re: Funds?

          That's why it's cheaper to borrow. The value of assets is collateral against the debt. If the debt defaulted the lender would take over the assets.

          The downside is all on the victim the company being bought. That ends up being saddled with the debt. The interest and payments can become a money pit. Maplin is an example UK readers will be familiar with.

          1. IGotOut Silver badge

            Re: Funds?

            "Maplin is an example UK readers will be familiar with."

            Or pretty much every major sports club owned by million / billionaires.

          2. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

            BHS

            Or the Sir Philip Greedy model: you take out a loan against future earnings of your company, use most of that to pay your wife a massive dividend, let the company fall apart, and then sell it for £1 to an ex-con.

            1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

              Re: BHS

              All he had to do was make sure he was a non-dom while doing it and he gets the set (and is sent to the House of Lords soon after)

            2. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge
              Pirate

              Pluggin the Dyche

              Something similar seems to have happened at Burnley FC:

              Club builds up pile of cash while starving football team of funds. Investor takes out loan against all that money and future earnings, then uses it to buy club and adds the debt onto the club's books. So club that had a huge mountain of cash is dropped into a giant debt hole. Original owner walks away pocketing huge payout. Cash starved football team has a wobble and threatens to exit the Premier League and the new owner panic fires their prima facie prize asset.

              I'm not a football person so what happens next is anybody's guess. But if bankers weren't profiting from all this, I'd say they were the most gullible twits. "Yes, of course we'll be able increase revenues 5000%! We'll just unlock the potential."

      3. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: Funds?

        >The lender knows that you should be good for it, as you have that worth in stock.

        If the bank is convinced the stock has long term value they will take the stock as collateral.

        You never pay back the loan and the bank takes the stocks when you die.

        Effectively you get tax-free money for life in return for considering the bank in your will

      4. Falmari Silver badge

        Re: Funds?

        @Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese "Paradoxically I think the practice with super rich people like that is actually to borrow the money. The lender knows that you should be good for it"

        The Million Pound Bank Note: Mark Twain

    2. Mike 137 Silver badge

      Re: Funds?

      "I wonder how's he going to pay for it"

      Folks in Musk's financial league can borrow almost any sum (indeed as Trump could).

    3. Arthur the cat Silver badge

      Re: Funds?

      He may be "worth" $300m

      I think you've dropped some zeroes.

      1. fxkeh

        Re: Funds?

        Whoops. $300b even.

    4. chivo243 Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Re: Funds?

      I'm no financial wizard, but how is 300mil going to buy a company that "The deal puts a $43 billion price tag on Twitter".

      Where's the Vinnie Barbarino icon? I'm so confused!

      1. doublelayer Silver badge

        Re: Funds?

        "I'm no financial wizard, but how is 300mil going to buy a company that "The deal puts a $43 billion price tag on Twitter"."

        The $300M figure was a typo. They meant to say $300B, which is sufficient to cover the charge except it probably won't come out of that money.

  3. TrevorH

    Another dangerous megalomaniac throws a strop.

    1. FIA Silver badge

      Another dangerous megalomaniac throws a strop.

      LOL, don't worry.

      It's not like he's trying to R&D an army of self driving robots, or has access to a giant missle factory or anything really supervillanous.

      1. chivo243 Silver badge
        Thumb Up

        When I see him stroking a white cat... I know who to call!

        1. WolfFan

          Only if the pussy-stroking takes place inside a hollowed out volcano.

          Hmm. Time to place an ad to get a few ninjas. And an autogyro.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        You forgot about the planting chips in victim's people's brains to read and write to their brain function.

    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      "Another dangerous megalomaniac throws a strop."

      Unlike the others, he's not planning on sticking around long term. Once he's living on Mars, he'll have a lot less interest in Earthly goods and chattels :-)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        In that case I want him to focus very, very hard on that goal to the exclusion of anything else, and not plan on coming back soon.

        On the plus side, him owning Twitter will see an exodus of sane people and it'll become the wasteland it deserves to be. Sane people would only keep an account to keep an eye on what him and Trump are up to (because I have no doubt re-instating Trump will be pretty much his first act when he has control, likely followed by Putin & other Russian state media).

        Twitter is an internet business, which means it serves people with the attention span of a mosquito on acid and retains users only for as long as there is no new fad for people to migrate to like TikTok or Instagram or whatever is next. Hamsters have a longer lifespan than the average mass market platform but I guess the aim is to dump/launder some cash into it, saddle it with a mountain of debt by using it as collateral and move on - worryingly, I see this trend at the moment too with a lot of the IT security industry.

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