Twitter Tumult

https://daringfireball.net/2022/11/twitter_tumult

by robenkleene • 4 years ago

21 4 4 years ago

raiyu• 4 years ago

I think the reason that Elon Musk is doing all of these layoffs so brashly is because he essentially paid $44B for an asset that's worth $15B. That's a $30B hole he needs to climb out of.

Additionally the amount of debt he took on to avoid having to pay out of pocket and higher interest rates means that there is a large debt service that now needs to be paid monthly and as a result he is cutting very deep and quickly.

I think he's also in his own reality distortion field, I mean why buy Twitter in the first place for $44B with no due diligence a month before the whole market tanks.

And for those wondering is that a fair statement, I sold everything back at the end of 2021 because valuations had gotten way too ahead of anything rational.

Now obviously there is tremendous disarray, I'm sure there are people inside Twitter that actually want to work with Elon, and so far the systems have stayed up and been resilient. There is definitely a lot of positions that could have been cut that would allow Twitter to still function but his speed at doing all of these changes doesn't register as anything other than outside forces forcing his hand, because there is no logical sense to get rid of this many people this quickly and start calling them back because you don't even have a basic understanding of how the underlying asset works.

user_named• 4 years ago

We need a version of "don't anthropomorphize the lawnmower" here.

Musk is a lunatic. There is no need to ascribe rational reasoning to him.

polishdude20• 4 years ago

I mean, the rational reasoning is that he is a lunatic and that outside forces are forcing his hand. He made a previous mistake and is now rationality acting to fix it.

tweetle_beetle• 4 years ago

The article describes 'his acquisition', which may be technically correct, but there's one thing that battles me - he's borrowed money to do this.

Do his debtors have to sit by and watch the asset lose value because of his actions? Are they actually fine with Twitter going under because Musk has enough reserves to pay them back, and they'll actually get a return sooner? Is it all part of a plan which was pitched to them when acquiring the loan, rather than the erratic mess it appears to be from the outside (surely not)?

In a standard situation, I'm sure the investors would be furiously getting involved as far as their contracts would allow them to, and probably even beyond.

Twitter Tumult

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