Monday's Monumental Absurdities: The Musk/Twitter War Just Got More Interesting [Updated]
The big news from the Musk/Twitter front is…Elon won’t be joining the Twitter board after all:
Here’s an excerpt from a Reuters story on the matter, which broke overnight:
April 11 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) said on Sunday that Elon Musk rejected its offer to join the social media firm's board, a dramatic turn in a week when the billionaire became its biggest shareholder, and it warned of more drama with "distractions ahead".
Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal said in a note posted to Twitter that the company's board held many discussions with Musk, but he did not state the reason for the Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO's decision.
Agrawal said the planned appointment was due to become effective on Saturday, which would have prevented the world's wealthiest person from becoming a beneficial owner of more than 14.9% of Twitter's common stock.
"I believe this is for the best," Agrawal said in the note. (https://bit.ly/3usFqhe) "There will be distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged."
The announcement was so abrupt that Musk was still listed on Twitter's board of directors on its website as of early Monday.
Twitter shares were down about 4% in premarket trading on Monday. They soared 27% on April 4 after Musk disclosed his stake but have since lost 7.5%.
[End]
Oh, yes, there will definitely be distractions ahead, that much is certain. For example, on Saturday, Musk suggested in a Twitter poll that it might be a good idea to convert Twitter’s headquarters building to a homeless shelter, because “nobody shows up” to work there, anyway:
More than a million of Musk’s Twitter followers responded to the poll, with 91% voting yes.
The next day, Jeff Bezos, who has alternated with Musk in recent months for the title of world’s wealthiest individual on the Forbes 400 list, responded that only part of Twitter’s HQ should be turned into a shelter, with the rest of the building used as offices for Twitter employees who wanted to volunteer to help.
Yes, it would be a “distraction” to have the two wealthiest billionaires on earth openly speculating about the future of your company on your company’s own social media platform. Hilarious.
The question now becomes what went on behind the scenes between Musk and Agrawal that led Musk to rescind his acceptance of the board seat? Does he now intend to stop messing with Twitter and refocus his efforts on running Tesla and SpaceX, or will he now try to move into a more aggressive, hostile takeover mode? Will he take the Warren Buffet approach or will he become more of a T. Boone Pickens?
It’s only speculation but this sentence from Agrawal’s statement stands out: "There will be distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged." Sounds to me like the two men tried but were unable to reconcile their disparate visions for the company’s future and that Agrawal is reasserting himself as the CEO of the company. If Musk is planning to go full T. Boone on the company, the CEO job is a perilous place to be.
[UPDATE] Here, it is key to note that, by accepting the seat on the Twitter board of directors, Musk would be limited by the company’s by-laws to holding no more than 15% of the company’s stock. By refusing to sit on the board, Musk would now be able to accumulate as large as a position as he desires. Interesting.
We’ll see.
Speaking of Musk and Twitter, the media long knives are coming out for Elon now, as exemplified by this little ditty from NBC:
Funny, we never saw anything like this from NBC or any other big media outlet when Carlos Slim bought the New York Times or Bezos bought the Washington Post. But no one should be surprised by the corrupt legacy media coming to the aide of the corrupt social media giants. It’s all one big corrupt family, after all.
Hey, shouldn’t the Democrats and media be calling this this ‘dangerous disinformation’?:
Why, that’s a real ‘threat to our democracy’ right there, isn’t it? If not, why not?
Speaking of utterly corrupt legacy media, here is Mediaite calling the Florida bill to ban the teaching of sex-related subjects in grades K-3 “controversial”:
Note: That new law is only “controversial” to Disney groomers and about 98% of those in the legacy news media. Which should surprise no one.
And while we’re on the corrupt media topic, here is human potato Brian Stelter having his pudgy bald head handed to him by a Yale researcher:
Priceless.
And by the way, if you don’t think that the presence of a significant contingent of groomers in our public schools is a real problem, the Obama administration would beg to differ. Here are two excerpts from a 2014 report compiled by the Government Accounting Office, when Barack Obama his own self was in the White House:
It’s a problem folks. That report was 8 years ago, and, with all the focused efforts by Democrats, Hollywood and the corrupt media to normalize pedophilia in our society since that time, the problem has no doubt grown much worse.
Don’t let these evil people convince you otherwise. The Florida law is a good law, but it is only a good first step. Much, much more needs to be done to protect our children from these predators.
That is all.