As Musk moves into Twitter, he does so with a level of cockiness and brazenness we’ve frankly come to expect. None of his memes, tweets, snark, or actions are particularly telling: They reveal that deep down, Elon is insecure as any of us, he just has enough money at his disposal to be a dick about it.
At its core, Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is a leveraged buyout. You know, the kind that ran Staples and KB Toys to the ground. And like most LBOs, the name of the game is return on investment: Getting lots of bang, for the many bucks that’ve been spent. Cue the questions about how to generate income, keep advertisers, or chastise people who balk at paying anything. The intrigue here has nothing to do with the things Musk and his team are aiming for (high ROI), but rather that they’re being done in such a public and crass manner. But again, the dude is a jerk. He gets off on this.
Already we’re seeing benefits taken away, and employees asked to do more. What does more mean? Nobody really knows. I’m not sure Elon even knows. But there’s a mad hustle inside Twitter to make generate some serious ROI, even if it is deeply misguided. This is Twitter now, and like other LBOs before it, there’s not much anyone can do, except the one guy who’s pretty cavalier about it all. Alas.
LBOs usually end well after deep consideration of revenue, debt, risk, and market fit. You could also just push that aside and say “fuck it”, and go with your gut. Elon seems to be very much going with his gut. If this surprises anyone, it shouldn’t, and if you’re an overworked, tired Twitter employee, you should know it’s probably not going to get much better for you. Sorry.
This whole Twitter thing is a weird episode, but only because it’s so public, and the cruelty that’s exposed is so obviously wrong to everyone except its executor. At the end of the day, this is a simple LBO. It will likely go bad, because the value proposition of Twitter hinges on healthy, deep content moderation, and the new owner seems to be just fine not having that sort of thing. What’s left to say?
Twitter will remain fun until Musk debases it. I suspect that time is coming. I’ll stick around to watch the implosion, but not with joy. That’s for the sycophant in the Board Room, alone as he may be.
Goscin.ski 