Reading the tea leaves of Twitters stock price, I suspect the stock market agrees. After a brief fall this morning, it is now going up, maybe expecting Elon to keep buying (or maybe he is buying now).
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Elon Musk
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Daniel in SD
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Excuse my ignorance but does anyone ever take over a company by buying shares on the open market? Don't they usually make an offer to buy out all the shareholders and then it is put to a vote?
I wonder if being a fiduciary might have been the sticking point. There's already a Twitter for "free speech absolutists" called Parler and it's worth a lot less than Twitter. Or maybe they made not talking trash about the company a condition for joining the board...
I wonder if being a fiduciary might have been the sticking point. There's already a Twitter for "free speech absolutists" called Parler and it's worth a lot less than Twitter. Or maybe they made not talking trash about the company a condition for joining the board...
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| Robert Reich | Apr 11 |  |  |  |
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We begin another gut-wrenching week watching Putin’s barbarity in Ukraine. The Russian people know little about it because Putin has blocked their access to the truth, substituting propaganda and lies.
Years ago, pundits assumed the Internet would open a new era of democracy, giving everyone access to the truth. But dictators like Putin and demagogues like Trump have demonstrated how naïve that assumption was.
At least America responded to Trump’s lies. Trump had 88 million Twitter followers before Twitter took him off its platform — just two days after the attack on the U.S. Capitol which he provoked, in part, with his tweets. (Trump’s social media accounts were also suspended on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitch, and TikTok.)
Twitter’s move was necessary to protect American democracy. But Elon Musk – the richest man in the world, with 80 million Twitter followers – wasn’t pleased about it. Musk tweeted that U.S. tech companies shouldn’t be acting "as the de facto arbiter of free speech."
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Musk advocates free speech but in reality it’s just about power.
It’s power that compelled Musk to buy $2.64 billion of Twitter stock, making him the largest shareholder, with a 9.2 percent stake in the company. Last week, Twitter announced that Musk will be joining the company’s board of directors. After the announcement, Musk promised "to make significant improvements" to the platform. (He even changed his investment designation to clarify that he’s not simply a "passive" investor but one who intends to impact the way the company is run.)
What “improvements” does Musk have in mind for Twitter? Will he use his new perch on Twitter’s board to prevent users with tens of millions of followers from blocking people who criticize them? I doubt he will.
Will Musk use his new perch to pressure Twitter to let Trump back on? I fear he will.
Musk has long advocated a libertarian vision of an “uncontrolled” Internet. That vision is dangerous rubbish. There’s no such animal, and won’t be. Someone has to decide on the algorithms in every platform — how they’re designed, how they evolve, what they reveal and what they hide. Musk has enough power and money to quietly give himself this sort of control over Twitter. He talks about freedom of speech but his real power is freedom of reach – reaching 80 million twitter followers without accountability to anyone (including critics like me) — and enough money to buy himself a seat on Twitter’s board.
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Musk has never believed that power comes with responsibility. He's been unperturbed when his tweets cause real suffering. During his long and storied history with Twitter he has threatened journalists and stolen memes. In March 2020 he tweeted that children were “essentially immune” to Covid. He’s pushed cryptocurrencies that he’s invested in. When a college student started a Twitter account to track Musk’s private plane, Musk tried and failed to buy him off, before blocking him.
The Securities and Exchange Commission went after Musk after he tweeted that he had funding to take Tesla private, a clear violation of the law. Musk paid a fine and agreed to let lawyers vet future sensitive tweets, but he has tried to reverse this requirement. He has also been openly contemptuous of the SEC, tweeting at one point that the “E” stands for “Elon’s.” (You can guess what the “S” and “C” stand for.) By the way, how does the SEC go after Musk’s ability to tweet now that he owns Twitter?
Billionaires like Musk have shown time and again they consider themselves above the law. And to a large extent, they are. Musk has enough wealth that legal penalties are no more than slaps on his wrist, and enough power to control one of the most important ways the public now receives news. Think about it: After years of posting tweets that skirt the law, Musk gets a seat on Twitter’s board.
Musk says he wants to “free” the Internet. But what he really aims to do is make it even less accountable than it is now, when it’s often impossible to discover who is making the decisions about how algorithms are designed, who’s filling social media with lies, who’s poisoning our minds with pseudo-science and propaganda, and who’s deciding which versions of events go viral and which stay under wraps.
Make no mistake: This is not about freedom. It’s about power. In Musk’s vision of Twitter and the Internet, he’d be the wizard behind the curtain — projecting on the world’s screen a fake image of a brave new world empowering everyone. In reality, that world would be dominated by the richest and most powerful people in the world, who wouldn’t be accountable to anyone for facts, truth, science, or the common good. That’s Musk’s dream. And Trump’s. And Putin’s. And the dream of every dictator, strongman, demagogue, and modern-day robber baron on earth. For the rest of us, it would be a brave new nightmare.
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PS: As I said, Musk has blocked me from his Twitter feed so I can’t reach his 80 million followers with my criticisms of positions he takes. If he truly believed in free speech, he’d respect the right of 80 million people to hear the other side. If he had confidence in his positions, presumably he wouldn’t be so afraid of me. Here’s a sampling of what he doesn’t allow his followers to see or read:
It could be that he's planning on acquiring Twitter. Perhaps to unban Donald Trump because Musk is afraid of losing the Trump era tax cuts.
Or maybe he plans on doing us all a favor and shutting twitter down.
Or maybe he has so much money that he thinks it would be funny to rename the company 'tit'.
But with the information available I think the most likely explanation is that Elon Musk has a substance abuse problem.
Or maybe he plans on doing us all a favor and shutting twitter down.
Or maybe he has so much money that he thinks it would be funny to rename the company 'tit'.
But with the information available I think the most likely explanation is that Elon Musk has a substance abuse problem.
My read of the situation is the following, but I am just some dumbass on the internet so who knows...
The board agreement would have limited him to owning less than 15% of the company. By not joining the board he can buy as much stock as he wants and they don't have dual share classes to protect the founders control of the company against that. So if we wants to influence twitter the most he's better off buying more stock.
True, there are other options like Parler but activist investors seem to find it easier to try and influence the existing market leader rather than try and build another one or boost a competitor. The media (journalists) basically live on Twitter at this point and much of public discourse seems to occur there as well. So he might see this as the easiest means to an end.
I'm not sure exactly what his end game is but I wouldn't be shocked if he buys more shares in the near future. Forbes had an interesting write up on why he migh decide to go that route.
Forbes - Elon Hostile Takeover of Twitter
Terminator857
Active Member
Agree with the basic premise that blocking somebody from your twitter account does not show any support of 'freedom of speech'. On the other hand many of the criticism Reich voices here are either poorly researched (if at all) or just not quite true (SEC, etc).
Also in my opinion (and the January 6th insurrection is one example of this) letting the ilk like Trump and Putin disseminate their lies and deceptions unrestrained will have devastating consequences.
The libertarian notion that each individual will figure out what is true and what is false has been shown to be so far off of reality that it, for example, enabled Putin to dupe the Russian people in supporting his war crimes in Urkraine.
Also in my opinion (and the January 6th insurrection is one example of this) letting the ilk like Trump and Putin disseminate their lies and deceptions unrestrained will have devastating consequences.
The libertarian notion that each individual will figure out what is true and what is false has been shown to be so far off of reality that it, for example, enabled Putin to dupe the Russian people in supporting his war crimes in Urkraine.
Daniel in SD
(supervised)
Yeah, I guess I didn't consider that Elon's recent tweets might be able to convince enough other investors that his vision for Twitter is what's in their best interest.Excerpt: Corporate raids were particularly common in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s in the United States. By the end of the 1980s, management of many large publicly traded corporations had adopted legal countermeasures designed to thwart potential hostile takeovers and corporate raids, including poison pills, golden parachutes, and increases in debt levels on the company's balance sheet.
Terminator857
Active Member
Elon has a lot of respect and a lot of rich friends. I don't expect it will be difficult for Elon to take control.
Daniel in SD
(supervised)
He is the richest man in the world so if we wants to take control of Twitter it's just a matter of mechanics.
I'm just unclear how he's going to make Twitter a more valuable company.
Terminator857
Active Member
Does twitter appeal to you as a place to socialize? It doesn't sound hard to me to improve twitters ability to help people be social. Just add a bunch of different interfaces. Add a reddit type interface. Add a TMC type interface and twitters value will double or triple in my opinion. Easy peasy.
haha Add A.I. or minor fee system to control the bots and even better!Add a tik tok interface, and <insert here you favorite social site> interface. So much that can be done. What happened to my favorite G+?
Yes, you can indeed to a hostile takeover just by buying shares. But these days, companies are formed with a standard set of anti-takeover provisions. While Twitter doesn't have a nuclear bomb of different share classes, they do have the following:
* A staggered board, which means directors will serve three-year terms with about a third elected each year. Thus it would take two annual meeting for the majority of shares to vote to change a majority of the board.
• Shareholders cannot call a special meeting, so the only way shareholders can act is at the annual meeting, and advance notice provisions apply to any action to be proposed.
• The charter prohibits action by consent. If the charter did not do that, in lieu of a meeting, the holders of a majority of the shares could act without a meeting by signing consents.
• The charter authorizes so-called "blank check" preferred shares. That means the board can issue preferred stock and set the terms, including dividend rights, liquidation preferences and voting rights at the time of issuance.
Now, Twitter has 11 directors. So those are the people with the real power in this situation. How friendly is Elon to them? Do they believe Elon would help Twitter better than their current CEO?
The problem with other platforms is their reach. Twitter has all the people that Elon cares about - the journalists and other opinion leaders.
That gave me a good chuckle! In the end, who really knows?
SDRick
Active Member
I always thought being on a board limited what you can say publicly regarding the company. It appears that Elon does not like to have his speech restricted. Perhaps it is as simple as that along with avoiding restrictions to purchase shares?
mspohr
Well-Known Member
Elon Musk’s vision for the internet is dangerous nonsense | Robert Reich
Musk has long advocated a libertarian vision of an ‘uncontrolled’ internet. That’s also the dream of every dictator, strongman and demagogue
www.theguardian.com
Musk continues to tell his 80 million followers all sorts of things. I disagree with many of his positions, but ever since I posted a tweet two years ago criticizing him for how he treated his Tesla workers he has blocked me – so I can’t view or post criticisms of his tweets to his followers.
Seems like an odd move for someone who describes himself as a “free speech absolutist”. Musk advocates free speech but in reality it’s just about power.
What “improvements” does Musk have in mind for Twitter? Will he use his clout over Twitter to prevent users with tens of millions of followers from blocking people who criticize them? I doubt it.
Will Musk use his clout to let Trump back on? I fear he will.
Musk has long advocated a libertarian vision of an “uncontrolled” internet. That vision is dangerous rubbish. There’s no such animal, and there never will be.
In reality, that world would be dominated by the richest and most powerful people in the world, who wouldn’t be accountable to anyone for facts, truth, science or the common good.
Last edited by a moderator:
mspohr
Well-Known Member
Twitter Grapples With an Elon Musk Problem
Mr. Musk, Twitter’s biggest shareholder, is free to buy more stock in the company and could use the platform against itself. Some employees are dismayed.
“Normally an activist is very clear in their intentions,” said Rich Greenfield, an analyst for the research firm LightShed Partners. But “we don’t know what Elon Musk’s true motivation is. Is this Elon having fun? Is this Elon trying to effect change? Is this Elon trying to drive the stock higher?”
Mr. Musk could, if he chose, buy more shares of Twitter and increase his ownership of the company, according to the document, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He could freely express his views about Twitter on social media or other channels, the document noted. And he reserved the right to “change his plans at any time, as he deems appropriate.”
Free speech can and should allow personal blocking. That too is a form of free speech of not having to listen to someone. There’s a difference between blocking on a personal level and from the entire platform.Elon Musk’s vision for the internet is dangerous nonsense | Robert Reich
Musk has long advocated a libertarian vision of an ‘uncontrolled’ internet. That’s also the dream of every dictator, strongman and demagogue
Musk continues to tell his 80 million followers all sorts of things. I disagree with many of his positions, but ever since I posted a tweet two years ago criticizing him for how he treated his Tesla workers he has blocked me – so I can’t view or post criticisms of his tweets to his followers.
Seems like an odd move for someone who describes himself as a “free speech absolutist”. Musk advocates free speech but in reality it’s just about power.
What “improvements” does Musk have in mind for Twitter? Will he use his clout over Twitter to prevent users with tens of millions of followers from blocking people who criticize them? I doubt it.
Will Musk use his clout to let Trump back on? I fear he will.
Musk has long advocated a libertarian vision of an “uncontrolled” internet. That vision is dangerous rubbish. There’s no such animal, and there never will be.
In reality, that world would be dominated by the richest and most powerful people in the world, who wouldn’t be accountable to anyone for facts, truth, science or the common good.
You can still easily read his tweets if you wanted. Just browse in privacy mode and don’t login to Twitter.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
mspohr
Well-Known Member
So, he's an "absolutist" when it suits him?
Otherwise, not so much.
absolutist
Also found in: Thesaurus, Financial, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
ab·so·lut·ism
(ăb′sə-lo͞o′tĭz′əm)n.
1.
a. A political theory holding that all power should be vested in one ruler or other authority.
b. A form of government in which all power is vested in a single ruler or other authority.
2. An absolute doctrine, principle, or standard.
I’m well aware of the meaning.
And technically he should just have muted you. Maybe you can petition to convert the Twitter block list to mute only.
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