Editorial: Paradox of being Musk

When the world’s richest person goes shopping, one would expect that all the things that are desired would find a place in the shopping cart. But it’s a delicious irony that the world appears to be conspiring against its richest person, Elon Musk, to prevent him from buying Twitter, the popular microblogging site. It only […]

When the world’s richest person goes shopping, one would expect that all the things that are desired would find a place in the shopping cart. But it’s a delicious irony that the world appears to be conspiring against its richest person, Elon Musk, to prevent him from buying Twitter, the popular microblogging site. It only goes to prove that there are certain things that money can’t buy. His hostile takeover bid, offering $43 billion at $54.20 per share, is widely seen as a sign of craving for public attention, the shenanigans of a tantrum-throwing spoiled brat. Musk is a man of many shades and many eccentricities. While the awe-inspiring strides of his innovative ventures —Tesla, SpaceX or Neuralink —have earned him a rockstar status in the technology world, his comments on political and social issues display a weird worldview, often bordering on the absurd. His behaviour on social media platforms has been largely narcissistic, abusive, unpredictable, and sometimes downright vulgar. Often, he comes across as a naughty schoolboy whose pranks play out on an epic scale. In early 2020, he had claimed that the pandemic was “dumb” and just a “form of common cold” and even advocated hydroxychloroquine as an effective treatment. The paradox of being Elon Musk is that he is simultaneously seen as a visionary, driving futuristic technologies in areas of space exploration, transportation, communication, and man-machine interface, and a crazy billionaire behaving like a grumpy teenager battling the pangs of rejection. Musk, who calls himself ‘free-speech absolutist’ and already owns more than 9% of Twitter, has not revealed any details on how his bid will be financed.

The controversial billionaire simply doesn’t have enough cash to buy Twitter. He has only $3 billion in cash on hand. Most of his fortune, which adds up to some $259 billion, is tied up in Tesla Inc and other ventures. The reasons he has cited for the takeover are highly suspect. His goal is not free expression, but control. And if he gets it, Twitter’s information problem will only grow worse. Musk’s description of a platform free from content moderation issues is also troubling in light of the algorithmic harms caused by social media platforms. His own track record as an advocate of freedom has been inconsistent. Because of Musk’s other businesses, Twitter’s ability to influence public opinion in the sensitive industries of aviation and the automobile would automatically create a conflict of interest in the event of his takeover. On its part, the Twitter board has adopted a shareholder rights plan to thwart the hostile takeover bid. The plan would allow existing shareholders to buy stocks at a substantial discount to dilute the holdings of new investors, a method known in the financial world as a “poison pill”.

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