Billionaire SpaceX and Telsa owner Elon Musk shocked the world of Big Tech social media last week after becoming the largest stakeholder in Twitter, a platform on which nearly everything he tweets becomes its own news story.
According to Just The News, just days after taking the top shareholder spot, Musk made a series of critical posts about the company, with one of them asking users if they think Twitter is “dying,” basing the question on a chart of famous celebrity Twitter accounts that see little to no action these days.
“Most of these ‘top’ accounts tweet rarely and post very little content. Is Twitter dying?” Musk asked, drawing tens of thousands of replies, as every one of his posts tend to do.
Acquiring the nearly 10% stake in Twitter cost Musk an estimated $3 billion. Musk is reportedly worth around $273 billion, and he is predicted to become the world’s first trillionaire in 2024.
Big shakeup
This wasn’t the first time Musk has been critical of Twitter, as he’s often taken shots at the social media platform over its tendency to censor free speech, especially involving political figures.
Upon news breaking of Musk’s acquisition of a majority stake in the company, it was also revealed that he nabbed a board seat, which quickly generated breaking news headlines.
Social media users from both sides of the political aisle were hysterical about such a move, with some calling for Musk to bring former President Donald Trump back, and the other side threatening to leave Twitter if he somehow reinstated Trump’s account.
However, over the weekend, another bombshell hit the news cycle, as Twitter’s CEO abruptly announced that Musk would not be taking a board seat, after all.
Elon has decided not to join our board. I sent a brief note to the company, sharing with you all here. pic.twitter.com/lfrXACavvk
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 11, 2022
Hostile takeover?
Musk’s sudden rejecting of a board seat has many now speculating that the move was born out of strategy, in the sense that not sitting on the board means Musk wouldn’t be capped in the amount of Twitter stock he can own, thus leaving open the door for a “hostile takeover” of the company, through shares.
Elon Musk not taking a board seat is bullish for free speech coming back to Twitter.
The board seat was a proposed tactic by Twitter’s current execs & board to curb his influence (limiting his maximum shares to 14.9%).
Musk can now pursue a hostile takeover if he so chooses.
— Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.substack.com (@JordanSchachtel) April 11, 2022
Only time will tell if Musk makes such a move. What would have once been written off as fantasy or conspiracy theory is now closer to reality than ever before.
