Elon Musk is hemorrhaging money because he’s so dumb. He just had to sell off $3.95 billion in Tesla stock yesterday as part of his “acquisition” of Twitter. And Tesla’s stock price is crashing too. Musk’s house of cards was already pretty tenuous pre-Twitter, and it’s headed for an inevitable disaster WITH Twitter. What’s hilarious is that while Musk has poured billions of his own wealth into purchasing Twitter, he has partners like Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia. How long before his partners pull the plug on Musk’s mismanagement of an already massively overleveraged escapade? Speaking of, Musk is desperate for his personal troll farm to make money. He’s now considering making Twitter paywalled.
Elon Musk has scraped off about $92 billion of his wealth this year after purchasing Twitter, the platform that he is now considering putting entirely behind a paywall, according to multiple reports. Bloomberg reported that shares of Musk’s other business venture, Tesla Inc. — which makes up the biggest part of his fortune — were traded as low as $186.75 on Tuesday. Per the outlet, the drop in value is due to investors in the electric car company raising concerns after his acquisition of Twitter.
As a result, Musk, 51, is now worth $177 billion. His wealth reached its peak last year at $340 billion when Tesla’s shares were traded at a record price of $410. His current net worth, however, did not impact his title as the richest person in the world, Bloomberg reported.
Late last month, he closed a $44 billion deal to purchase Twitter. Musk — who reportedly borrowed $12 billion to be able to afford the sale — has considered other ways to generate revenue for the company, including charging a subscription fee to most or all users, according to The Verge.
A source familiar with the situation told the outlet that the Tesla CEO and one of his advisers, venture capitalist David Sacks, have discussed the idea of the platform-wide paywall in recent meetings. Representatives for Musk and Twitter did not immediately return PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
I have subscriptions to news/commentary sites like Vanity Fair, the NY Times and the Daily Beast. CB subscribes to WaPo. Hecate subscribes to the LA Times. I don’t think any of us would subscribe to Twitter? I love laughing at clowns but I’m not going to pay the clowns just to laugh at them. Anyway, love this for Elon. He’s a complete dipsh-t.
if your ethical problem with staying on twitter is not wanting to make elon musk money don’t worry lol
— alexis nedd 🎮 💙 (@alexisthenedd) November 8, 2022
He's tanking the site, he's drowning in debt, he's a huge fucking baby, and he reads his mentions.
— Jacob Silverman (@SilvermanJacob) November 7, 2022
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Heidi Klum’s 21st Annual Halloween Party Presented By Now Screaming x Prime Video And Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur At Sake No Hana At Moxy Lower East Side Featuring: Elon Musk Where: New York, New York, United States When: 31 Oct 2022 Credit: BauerGriffin/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images
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- Heidi Klum’s 21st Annual Halloween Party Presented By Now Screaming x Prime Video And Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur At Sake No Hana At Moxy Lower East Side Featuring: Elon Musk Where: New York, New York, United States When: 31 Oct 2022 Credit: ROGER WONG/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images
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- Heidi Klum’s 21st Annual Halloween Party Presented By Now Screaming x Prime Video And Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur At Sake No Hana At Moxy Lower East Side Featuring: Elon Musk Where: New York, New York, United States When: 31 Oct 2022 Credit: ROGER WONG/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images
apparently he borrowed so much money to buy Twitter that he owes a billion dollars a year in interest which explains a lot of his terrible decisions. He should have paid the $1B penalty and walked away but no! Way to own the libs!
@BlueSky – this. If Musk gets to be a mere millionaire (because he won’t be poor), I will laugh until I’m butter.
I read multiple articles (including on pajiba!) that outlined the financial problems that made it stupid when he first made the offer. Amazing a “genius” didn’t understand that on his own. It’s almost like he’s running a long con based on being a rich and white male, and its catching up to him. FAFO.
Twitter is a dog full of fleas—it will be into bankruptcy in less than six months and scrapped for IP.
So I’ve read multiple threads on this.
Throughout the summer major Twitter advertisers posed questions to the Board about Musk’s potential takeover and what they would do to ensure Twitter wouldn’t turn into toxic soup. They never received clear planning or guidance. All Musk had to do, pre purchase, was ensure leadership that he had a plan to manage a social media company rationally and ease concerns about T coming back (and all of his cultists).
Into this atmosphere occurred the major Ad Buying event (Sept or Oct) where Twitter used to secure ~65% of next year’s income upfront. This year no one bought ads and Musk’s firing of staff including moderators, accessibility staff, developers, etc. has left little to no incentive for brands to buy into Twitter bc they don’t want to be associated with MAGA / Proud Boys / Conspiracy Theory nut jobs. It’s a total downward spiral of his own making.
I think the Pajiba article I read broke it down along the lines of – twitter doesn’t make enough to pay the debt service that’s required for musk to buy at the price he said. It had some info contrasting how fox news, which seems to be a juggernaut, its entire yearly profit wouldn’t cover the debt service for Twitter. It just pointed out the structural flaws of the money required that were apparent to people not enthralled by musk, it wasn’t even banking on him cannibalizing the company and completely tanking the ad buy.
Awww, poor baby. Got his toy but is still throwing a tantrum.
And the way to treat baby’s tantrum is to ignore him. Bye now.
What is that bloated lobster roach costume? That’s all I see when I see those photos.
Anyway, more of this, please. And if he’s going around unblocking himself from the accounts of those who’ve blocked him, he really is the egomaniacal toxic narcissist and thin-skinned plastic surgery pumped crybaby we all pegged him for a decade ago. Also, why isn’t he being sued for all his stock manipulation antics?
Yeah i’m not paying for Twitter. I’m not paying for any social media to be honest. I pay for WaPo and my husband pays for our local city paper, and I’ve paid for the NYT off and on over the years. I am willing to pay for news sources like that, I’m not willing to pay for social media.
Yes, and since users are the product for advertisers, I don’t see any reason to do so.
I think only a small percentage is willing to pay.
There are lots of accounts that are just there to gush over sports, celebrities, series, anime etc. That can be done elsewhere.
Other social media platforms will dive into the vacuum this is creating. It’s already happening, with people looking for alternatives. In many cases, people were only on the cesspool of hate that is Twitter as everyone else seemed to be there, so when they’re not, there is no reason to stay.
Yeah, the users are the product for the advertisers, and now he wants them to pay for the privilege of creating the content. Lol.
The idea of paywall would work if there was something of worth to read BUT, the content creators ie mainly those people who were verified (reporters for proper newspapers etc) and are now not because of Elongate’s mismanagement, won’t post content that monetized twitter unless they get compensation too. and Elongate wont compensate them because he needs the
money.
Most people will pull out in favor of free SM. Advertisers will pull out unless their target is extreme right wingers. There are too many other SM sites available that don’t charge. And some people think he’s a genius?
Extreme right wingers aren’t going to pay for Twitter.
100% agreed. Trump’s Great Value Twitter is failing for exactly that reason – the trolls don’t want their own social media site because that would defeat their entire purpose. No way are they going to pay.
This whole episode is just more fodder for the “oh it’s women who are too emotional, is it?” file. He bought a whole money pit of a business because he was having a temper tantrum. At this point, anyone who invests in Elon Musk gets what they deserve. I am still very worried that the Saudi government owns something like 5%, though. They don’t care about losing money; they want the influence and the ability to disrupt political dissidence.
Sometimes, bad things happen to bad people.
And i try to be a compassionate person. Not in this instance. This is delightful.
And for him, it is less bad things happening to him- and more- him seeing the quicksand, stepping in it, and assuming being a born-rich white man would keep him afloat- like it always has in the past.
What’s the worst that will happen to Musk? He will still be unimaginably rich when Twitter crashes and burns. There’s no schadenfreude here because people like Musk never face real consequences.
Because he put TESLA up as collateral to get those loans. If Twitter crashes, he stands to lose control of it.
KM, boy, that was a dazzlingly-stupid move. 🙄🙄
Lmao, for a genius he’s pretty dumb. I would never pay to use Twitter just like most people wouldn’t pay a cent to use it.
Too funny. The richest man in the world is tap dancing for change bc he is beyond stupid when it comes to actual business mgmt. Tying an albatross around a relatively successful company (notwithstanding pending lawsuits) was definitely not a genius move. And why did Dumbass Diddy give EM $10mil to buy Twitter?
Twitter was never a successful company. It never really made money. It was just a popular company. Everybody was on it but that didn’t make it successful. Or at least the company never made money. The people behind it did. That’s the problem with most of america these days. The stockholders and CEO’s steal all the money out of the company and the company goes bust.
The Schadenfraude is delicious
I like mine with a crumbly streusel topping and a dollop of whipped cream. Yummy!
That man can’t run any thing unless it’s subsidized by the US government. Sorry, Elon, you have to swim on your own merit!!
Elon’s “genius” is catching up to him LOLOL. Everyone always thinks he’s some iron man genius who will take over the world. What they don’t realize is he had one great idea, started in an area where there was no competition (mid to high end luxury e cars) and made his fortune. But Tesla is facing heavy competition now and he’s not good enough if a business man to think long term and Tesla is now known for crappy customer service and quality. But…I wouldn’t hold my breath this will destroy him…evil ppl also bounce back in America way more than they should.
Tesla wasn’t Elon’s idea. He just bought the company from the guy who thought of it.
January of 2021 we got StarLink beta. We are rural and despite having all of the other satellite internet services at one time or the other StarLink was our first “real”, truly usable internet service. Loved it. We had no data cap and Elon said that we would double the speeds and that the monthly fee would drop significantly when it emerged from Beta. Well, guess what? Monthly fees are higher, speeds are down by over half and we now have a data cap coming up for most users apparently even me who lives alone, does not do any gaming or mining and uses it to browse the internet and stream tv.
Not happy with the guy.
he is Mr Bait and Switch, so not surprising.
If he actually paywalled Twitter, the first people who’d line up to thank him and skip off the website would be the vast majority of current Twitter users, many of whom would love not having to feel the impulse to doom scroll through their feed and waste hours of their time every day.
Trying to quit Twitter is giving me some insight into what it must be like to try to stop smoking.
I managed both and it’s a toss up as to which was more difficult. I’ve maintained the Twitter account but am strictly read only for news events from around the world in real time. That is what is addictive imo…and the humor. Celebitchy is somewhat filling that void!
@A – this is true. At this moment, Twitter is the only social media I genuinely interact with. If this shuts down, that’s me done. I don’t have it in me to seek out a new social media outlet. Tiktok and Instagram doesn’t hit the same buttons.
I literally just started to, like, understand how to use twitter within the last year, lol. And I look at it all the time now (although not yet today because I feel like I might see something election related that upsets me), but would drop it like a hot potato if they wanted to start charging for it. I already pay for a bunch of subscriptions–we get the washington post, the nyt (mainly for the games), the la times, nymag (which is great, I love vulture), and I pay for the apple news app (which prob means we get duplicates from the other stuff we pay for…. I probably need to investigate that), not to mention all the streaming services we get–and I don’t intend to pay for social media. If only fb would charge, that is what I need to finally ditch that
And good luck to the fools who hand over financial info to pay for Twitter. I’m sure it won’t be safe.
Chuck Tingle responded perfectly to this moment with a new book:
https://mobile.twitter.com/ChuckTingle/status/1589995759969370113
In case that link doesn’t go through or Elon Musk cancels Chuck Tingle’s account, CT’s new book is entitled
THE PHYSICAL MANIFESTATION OF TWIDDOR’S RAPID DESCENT INTO CHAOS THANKS TO INEPT MANAGEMENT FROM A MANBABY EDGELORD POUNDS ME IN THE BUTT
*chef’s kiss*
hahaha that is pretty hilarious 🙂
I’ve spent zero seconds before today thinking about how Twitter actually works but the articles on the consequences of the large scale firing by Musk are fascinating to me.
I worked for a small company that had east and west coast management and east coast decided they could do it all and fired everyone except west coast workers. So much information was lost and it just couldn’t be replaced. The west coast operations eventually shut down
Anyway, this quote made me think of that.
“”Is that important, or can it be turned off” is the kind of thing best answered via asking people. 50% of Twitter was let go today, and your oral tradition just walked out the door too.“
I am willing to pay for political wire, the Washington Post, a local and a state paper, a couple of magazines, some podcast patreons, and a revolving selection of streaming services. Pre-Elon I might have paid a nominal monthly amount for Twitter, the same way I donate to Wikipedia. It’s a fun way to keep up with an academic field I no longer formally work in and I get a lot of joy from my highly curated non-academic feed.
Post Elon? Hahahahahahahahah. No.
This. 100000% this.
Told folks yesterday he wasn’t a genius. He’s a full grown manbaby. He and his partners have to know the majority of Twitter users aren’t going to pay to have access to the site, so what’s the endgame? None of his actions make any sense. If he hoped to cripple the election, that didn’t work. Red wave was a mirage, bloated and hyped like Elon’s ego and intelligence.
This is my favorite comment on the page
That’s the funniest part–there is no endgame. He offered to overpay for whole company in service to his whims, then realized he couldn’t back out AND couldn’t afford the deal. This is probably the first time Elon’s manbaby-ing had consequences for him & I love it.
You can download an archive of your twitter feed, for those of you who might feel sad your feed is going to be gone soon. twitter help center shows the steps.
I was paying for Twitter Blue for the edit button. I had no issues paying $2.99 a month or whatever it was but I hardly used the features including the edit button. I didn’t miss that $2.99 and only stopped because I was going through my subscriptions and was like I guess I don’t use it so eh.
Now paying $20? No. I love Twitter and I continue to use it because Twitter is the social that mostly aligns with my personality, and I just love it. $2.99 I didn’t care about. Anything more than is gonna be an issue. He should have just let them do what they were doing at Twitter. He didn’t need to come in and break it. What a douche.
When the news of Musk came about I willed for it not to happen and it did and I was miserable. If Elon is the reason Twitter dies, I will hire those witches who put curse flyers in our mailboxes here in Paris. I had no feelings one or the other about Elon. I don’t pay attention to him, I don’t care. But this? I’m so happy so many on Twitter are just clowning him. He can’t shut all of them up and it’s hilarious.
Where do I get these curse flyers? (Note: question is totally unrelated to the fact that I live in Texas/Florida North and we’re currently “governed” by proto-MAGAs who are up for re-election next year.)
I want to know, too! I would be happy to do my part and point them at Texas & Florida government if they’re no longer needed for Boebert here in CO.
People tolerate the cesspool of abuse on Twitter because it’s free. No one is going to pay to be part of it…
I am absolutely convinced he was drunk/drugged when he bought it and couldn’t get out of it. He can’t paywall it – if there is something for free and then start charging – everybody will leave. All he can do is increase advertising costs. He’s just stuck with it. It’s just a money drain, he needs to figure out how much advertisers will pay or take his losses and end twitter.
It’s not a “cesspool” if you know who to follow. Weather people give out some good info.
It’s definitely not a cesspool. It’s like anything else…you get out of it what you put into it and twt is 100% about the accounts you choose to follow or with whom you interact. And no, I’m not paying for it lol
I am not paying for social media. If I wanted to spend 8.99 I would put it towards a tv subscription service.
Man, between Musk and Zuckerberg SM is taking a beating. Happy to see those two crash and burn.
I just closed my twitter account. Wasn’t like I was on there that much and it certainly didn’t “spark” joy.
So the “world’s town square” and “last bastion of free speech” is now pay to play? *rolls eyes*
I hope he hemorrhages ALL his money and is THEN deported. A girl can wish.