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Ask HN: Is Elon Musk Destroying Twitter?

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Re: Ask HN: Is Elon Musk Destroying Twitter?

#31

Post by slater »

rvz wrote: post #29
slater wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There you are!

? Why are you specifically looking for me again? Unless you are an obsessed rvz fan, despite denying it? [0] Out of all comments here, you have just wasted your time replying to only me. Again. I'm just sitting back laughing at you and everyone else reacting to the panic and hysteria that will just subside regardless. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36384760

No need to flatter yourself. As already mentioned in our previous discussion, you just happen to pop up in posts I'm interested in, to the point where i can almost be certain you'll show up with a selection of your usual "told you so", "as i predicted", or dismissive mastodon-bashing.

Looks like I'm not the only one who's noticed, either[0] ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33125070

(^ that one with a bonus dismissive "told you so"/"i am right"-esque response! XD )

Re: Ask HN: Is Elon Musk Destroying Twitter?

#32

Post by rvz »

slater wrote: post #31
rvz wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

? Why are you specifically looking for me again? Unless you are an obsessed rvz fan, despite denying it? [0] Out of all comments here, you have just wasted your time replying to only me. Again. I'm just sitting back laughing at you and everyone else reacting to the panic and hysteria that will just subside regardless. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36384760

No need to flatter yourself. As already mentioned in our previous discussion, you just happen to pop up in posts I'm interested in, to the point where i can almost be certain you'll show up with a selection of your usual "told you so", "as i predicted", or dismissive mastodon-bashing. Looks like I'm not the only one who's noticed, either[0] ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33125070 (^ that one with…

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: Is Elon Musk Destroying Twitter?

#33

Post by jqpabc123 »

crop_rotation wrote: post #10

I think the simple explanation seems to be that he vastly overpaid for it, tried his best to get out of buying, and now that he has sunk all this money into it, he is trying all quickfire ways of making money via Twitter (most of which seem ridiculously bad but I doubt there are many good options for making good money via Twitter).

In other words, his purchase was more political than economic, more ego than sound business judgment.

He is totally out of his element and flying by trial and error. A crash and burn is the most likely result IMO.

Social media and advertising is an inherently humanistic/social endeavor requiring a deft business touch. Musk isn't exactly famous for his humanity or his humility or his social skills. He is waddling around like a duck out of water.

Re: Ask HN: Is Elon Musk Destroying Twitter?

#34

Post by Zigurd »

Start with the fact that he didn't want to buy it. He probably thought he could acquire it, make some changes, and flip it for less than a settlement would have cost. That didn't work out. If you're wondering if there's a plan, the plan didn't work, and now there is no plan. It's the special military operation of LBOs.

Re: Ask HN: Is Elon Musk Destroying Twitter?

#35

Post by devjab »

jqpabc123 wrote: post #33
crop_rotation wrote: post #10

I think the simple explanation seems to be that he vastly overpaid for it, tried his best to get out of buying, and now that he has sunk all this money into it, he is trying all quickfire ways of making money via Twitter (most of which seem ridiculously bad but I doubt there are many good options for making good money via Twitter).

In other words, his purchase was more political than economic, more ego than sound business judgment. He is totally out of his element and flying by trial and error. A crash and burn is the most likely result IMO. Social media and advertising is an inherently humanistic/social endeavor requiring a deft business touch. Musk isn't exactly famous for his humanity or his humility or his social skills. He is waddling arou…

> In other words, his purchase was more political than economic, more ego than sound business judgment.

Not necessarily. I'm not a fan of the guy, but I do work in investment finance. The increase of interest rates might've been the reason he didn't want to go through with the buy. We went from a world where borrowing money was almost free to a world where it's very expensive. When Elon signed himself into buying Twitter loaning money for you and me was between 0.25% and 0.50% rate, when it finalized it was between 3.75% and 4.00%. The organisational loans are different, but not by much, and not only did those 6 months show the increase in rate, our financial industry also went through the realization that this wasn't likely to end as soon as they first hoped.

I'm not sure we can ever really get into the details, but I do think that going from free money to very expensive money likely had more to do with this than his ego and bad judgement.

Re: Ask HN: Is Elon Musk Destroying Twitter?

#36

Post by jqpabc123 »

devjab wrote: post #35
jqpabc123 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In other words, his purchase was more political than economic, more ego than sound business judgment. He is totally out of his element and flying by trial and error. A crash and burn is the most likely result IMO. Social media and advertising is an inherently humanistic/social endeavor requiring a deft business touch. Musk isn't exactly famous for his humanity or his humility or his social skills. He is waddling arou…

> In other words, his purchase was more political than economic, more ego than sound business judgment. Not necessarily. I'm not a fan of the guy, but I do work in investment finance. The increase of interest rates might've been the reason he didn't want to go through with the buy. We went from a world where borrowing money was almost free to a world where it's very expensive. When Elon signed himself into buying Twi…

Musk himself has said he paid twice what the company was worth.

Too bad he didn't take time to figure that out before he placed his bid.

Too bad he didn't figure out that social media wasn't a good fit for his style.

Re: Ask HN: Is Elon Musk Destroying Twitter?

#37

Post by xeromal »

bemusedthrow75 wrote: post #25
centmot wrote: post #13

Just experimentation. He bought the company at the top of the market and has a large debt bill, likely that is all there is to the frequent changes. It's obvious that existing users will find this unsettling.

Existing users, I guess, are all finding it unsettling. Except maybe the Salacious Crumbs out there, cackling at his every action. But new users can currently read only 300 tweets before they are rate limited for 24 hours, and that is all of about 12-15 average threads. Why would they find it less unsettling? It's not a competent product at this point.

?

Re: Ask HN: Is Elon Musk Destroying Twitter?

#38

Post by papito »

EA-3167 wrote: post #4

Makes you glad he's just a figurehead at SpaceX, doesn't it?

With cars and rockets there is a lot of government regulation and standards. Musk cannot bypass that, and that's why he is not involved into the day-to-day. He has no interest in the nitty gritty and he loses patience right away. The adults are running the grown-up businesses.

With Twitter, it's only Elon. There is no one in his way. He can do whatever he wants. If the other industries were not regulated, he would be a serial Stockton Rush disaster artist.

Re: Ask HN: Is Elon Musk Destroying Twitter?

#40

Post by exodust »

bemusedthrow75 wrote: post #24
Tozen wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This view also introduces the question of how badly has Elon hurt his reputation and orchestrated mythology. Until Twitter, many thought the man a "genius" that could do no wrong. After Twitter, Elon has become "very human" with glaringly obvious flaws.

He's not a typical human, though. He appears to lack the capacity for empathy and he is cruel -- he toys with people like Halli Thorleifsson in public. It is sociopathic, which by definition makes him unusual. Sensible, consistent business leaders simply do not behave the way he does: if they are sociopaths, they at least try to surround themselves with qualified people who are not. Elon has ruined his reputation wit…

All those paragraphs dedicated to "Elon - Bad Man"?

> "he toys with people like Halli Thorleifsson"...

Who started the public exchange with Musk in the first place. Who tweets HR questions to their employer unless there's another agenda? After that exchange, he received a bunch of new subscribers for his upcoming announcement he made a few days later (releasing a song on Spotify and other platforms), the tweet still pinned. Among other announcements such as opening a new restaurant.

He went into detail about his disability, got world-wide media attention and sympathy, got the subscribers, got the Musk apology, had his job termination reversed, got his own Wikipedia page, among other things.

Cave Diver guy: Messy, but again the Diver guy started it. Musk had no idea who this man was until he publicly attacked Musk for trying to help the Thai rescue.

Would you take to a public forum and tell someone they can shove something they built up their ass? Who does that? The Diver guy did it. When Musk reacted poorly, then apologised, the Diver guy already had dollar signs in his goggles, tried to sue Musk for the ridiculous amount of $190 million, and was awarded zero dollars by the jury. But, "musk bad man" is the easier take, and you'll get upvotes, so just stick with that.

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