43 Billion Dollars!? Of all the important issues in the world, Twitter is where this sort of money might go? Twitter! Oy vey have we lost sight of whats important. That's enough to give every research PhD student in the USA a sorely needed extra $15k every year for the next ~50 years. Sure glad we aren't living in an age where incentivizing technological breakthroughs on a societal level is an important thing to do.
I use twitter, I get something out of it, and I probably disagree with Musk politically on several issues. But if he were to take Twitter private, and change it, or whatever... Honestly, that's his prerogative; I'm certainly not in a position to stop him. Whether it's "good" or "bad" is not something that's really under my control. It's just a shame that this wealth isn't used for something more productive.
Just because he spends 38% over market price for Twitter doesn't mean that the realizable value of Twitter to anyone but the people who have already sold to him goes up by that 38%, nor, even if it did, does it mean it retains that value once he takes control.
True, but I'm not too concerned whether Musk loses $43 billion or makes a 9% return on his money. While I don't imagine most people would be happy "losing" ~16% of their net wealth, when you have a quarter of a trillion dollars, I don't know that it makes any difference. Wealth and money mean something different at Musk's scale.
Twitter is the public square for elite discourse in the US. It's surprising the price is that low. As a business maybe not, at least not in the short term, but the externalities are...compelling.
Also this is an investment - not a donation. The expectation is that the $43b will drive direct ROI - not something that a donation to students will provide to an investor.
That's a good point. I guess I just question the value of having any more "direct ROI" when you already have a quarter of a trillion dollars. Surely, at that level, the things that improve the quality of your life -- especially to a systems thinker type -- are positive social changes?
I would have to hard disagree. I think free speech is one of the most important issues we face today, it's worth any price IMO, including the ultimate price.
Free speech doesn't mean being able to say anything one wants on every platform one wants to say it on. There are real free speech issues out there but I don't see how this is one of them.
I see nothing good about some billionaire buying a communication medium millions of people use every day but I'm happy to be told why this is better than Twitter being a public company.
It's not like he's spending it for nothing in return. He's buying a business that has the potential to be cash flow positive (although it's been a couple years). He must see potential to make the service better and make money doing it. I can't speak for him obviously but based on his prior large bets, he's willing to lose it all but that's never his intention at the outset.
True, but one of these is set in a messy and complex interlocking system of multi-stakeholder incentives. The other seems to be more or less the whims of one individual.
You can point to any large amount of money spent and say that it could be spent better. At least this is staying in the country and could potentially benefit people.
I use twitter, I get something out of it, and I probably disagree with Musk politically on several issues. But if he were to take Twitter private, and change it, or whatever... Honestly, that's his prerogative; I'm certainly not in a position to stop him. Whether it's "good" or "bad" is not something that's really under my control. It's just a shame that this wealth isn't used for something more productive.