“Fidelity is currently valuing X at about $9.4 billion”

I found this funny.

    • jonne@infosec.pub
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      2 months ago

      If someone were to buy it, ban the Nazis and get advertisers to come back it’s still salvageable, I guess. The longer Musk owns it, the bigger the chance is that it’ll become the next MySpace.

      • EnderMB@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        At least the MySpace guy was able to run a fun site, cash out before social media became crazy, and spend the rest of his life having fun with that money.

        Trump will lose, and Musk will be holding on to a useless site that serves nothing. He’ll probably sell for a fraction of what he paid (not that it was his money in the first place), but by that point it’ll be too late. Twitter will be long dead.

        • Kalysta@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          I doubt the saudis will be very happy if Musk doesn’t repay them their investment. I’m surprised they haven’t threatened him into stepping down and handing their investment to someone who can properly manage a social media platform already

          • EnderMB@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            That’ll probably be what happens if Trump loses. Musk didn’t spend “his” money so it’s no loss, and many from the Middle East have wanted control of Twitter ever since the Arab Spring.

    • celsiustimeline@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 months ago

      It’s only worth as much as anyone’s willing to pay for it. Take a look at any of these tech start ups that do something very insignificant slightly differently than their competitor. VALUATION 100 BILLION DOLLARS!

    • sqibkw@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I wouldn’t be surprised if part of this remaining value is because the Japanese internet still heavily relies on it as a platform, even if the west has begun moving elsewhere.

    • Artyom@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      This is the stock market, the value is set by what investors think the value could be. Mostly, they’re probably assuming people would come back if he sold it. Literally everyone knows the name Twitter.

        • skyspydude1@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Just because it’s not publicly traded, doesn’t mean that there isn’t stock nor that there’s no market. Usually, you can technically still buy/sell the stock, just not as a random member of the public on a public stock exchange like the NYSE or FTSE.

          • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            There’s usually defined periods for sales as well. Gives employees and other stock holders a way to cash out and get new investors in.

  • ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    And yet, he’s still one of the what, 5 richest people on the planet?

    He doesn’t give a shit, and neither should you (as nice as the schadenfreude might feel). He got something worth more to him than plain old money - an established propaganda platform, which he is using as he intended - to war monger and otherwise interfere in politics to ensure fascism progresses as fast as he can help it. The “dent” (more like a surface scratch) it put in his finances is completely invisible and irrelevant to him.

    And it should be to you, too.

    He is NEVER going to end up without means or power, not even fucking close, unless we take them from him, and abolish the system that encouraged and enabled him to amass them in the first place.

    • CleoTheWizard@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      What is completely wild to me is that there are only 4 main apps: Reddit, twitter, instagram, and Facebook. Almost every public conversation happens on one of those platforms. And of those four platforms, one of them was bought by one singular person. Some people just don’t get the absolute scale of how much one person can just buy of our communities.

      Like it or not, there are businesses on Twitter. Celebrities are easy to reach and talk to. Even companies use Twitter for support. News outlets post there. It’s a whole community. Was it a bit toxic? Yeah. But it wouldn’t have mattered. One guy bought it.

      Similar to what you said, if you were to run the numbers on this I’m pretty sure owning twitter to Elon is not much different than owning a cable subscription to your average family. A whole community of tens of millions of people bought by one person and its success doesn’t matter. Capitalism is broken. And if you think that’s bad, imagine how he can affect your government when a Supreme Court justice goes for a small small fraction of the price…

      Edit: I did the math and it turns out that twitter has lost so much money that this is no longer a cable subscription. It’s about a 6% yearly loss to Elons net worth, dependent on his current stock values. Which means it’s not cable, but about the cost the average person spends on food in a year ($10,000 yearly cost to a 200k net worth). Still insane.

      • yamanii@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Well said, after losing access to twitter it’s really hard to get information on game companies for example, since they don’t have their own blog for you to RSS and get information about the newest game updates and what not, and they only post on youtube if they have a new trailer.

        • regeya@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I suppose it’s too much to hope for, for RSS feeds to make a comeback. Or JSON feeds being more prevalent. I’m totally serious, I miss being able to just check the headlines without going through a bunch of bullshit.

      • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The average family’s cable subscription doesn’t cost 20% of their net worth.

        • CleoTheWizard@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          To clarify, I was thinking of the depreciating asset part as a loss of value the same way that a subscription is.

    • simple@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Yeah a lot of people miss the fact that the play for Twitter was never about money, but control. Owning one of the most popular social medias makes it easy to spread propaganda and amplify your voice.

      • Womble@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Lots of people spout this conspiracy theory, but Ive yet to hear a good reason why he had to be sued into making the purchase (after making price manipulating statements) if it was some sinister plan.

        Far more likely he’s just a fuck up.

        • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          Fucked up then adapted musk is a welpling but like every rich WASP be it from England or its colonies he is weirdly adaptable. Which is why the most effective method of WASP removal is via flamethrower.

    • celsiustimeline@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 months ago

      He’s the actual richest man on the planet with a net worth of a quarter of a trillion dollars. The next richest person on the planet is Jeff Bezos with $197B

    • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Not only that, but the folks who helped bankroll him saw what social media could do to organize protests and evade censorship and wanted to reduce its power. The Saudis saw the Arab Spring and shit their collective thobe.

    • scarabic@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      PayPal and Tesla and SpaceX been pretty big successes. But Twitter is a real fuckup for him. It shows that his judgment and temperament and perfect boy genius mystique have all jumped the shark in a big way.

      • ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        But Twitter is a real fuckup for him

        Except it clearly fucking isn’t, it’s doing exactly what he bought it for, including convincing people like you to feel sympathy for him and his “loss”, which is equal parts hilarious and really fucking sad. You’re looking at his life from the point of view of a poor person, something he never was and never will be, yet he’s still so easily manipulated you in to feeling bad for him (and the billions he’s lost, leaving him… still the motherfucking richest person on the planet), and even fucking (think you) relate to him and the idea that he can “fail” just like you can, using you as a living breathing mouthpiece to make his life easier. Not yours.

        perfect boy genius mystique

        I just threw up a little in my mouth, thanks.

        • scarabic@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I don’t know who you’re talking to. I have no pity for the man and don’t relate to him. I don’t have to argue with you over whether Tesla and SpaceX have been successful businesses because those are objective facts. It’s also pretty idiotic to deny that years ago, he had a boy genius aura about him - investors still throw billions at that image. Sorry it makes you throw up, especially because you already appear to be absolutely choking on Elon hate. I despise the man but I’m not slobbering all over myself with jealous disdain as you sound to be.

  • eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Musk did not buy this as an investment. He bought it to flip elections and manipulate public opinion.

    Tesla is writing him a check that will cover the entire purchase price, and Saudi Arabia and Russia will pay the operating costs.

    Active users are what matters; if they lost 75% of their users then I’m paying attention.

    • Wirlocke@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 months ago

      Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure he gave an outlandish bid for Twitter to manipulate it’s stock prices when he pulled put, but he was sued into following through.

      I don’t think he ever wanted to buy it, or at least he wanted to crash it’s value to come back and buy it on the cheap.

      • celsiustimeline@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        Given his unlimited resources, and the world’s worst people on speed dial, do you not think that the powers that be could have orchestrated that?

        • Wirlocke@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          2 months ago

          If he was that competent why would he resort to openly pumping and dumping meme coins in public just prior to this stunt.

          He has some dangerous strings he can pull, but that doesn’t make him a good puppet master.

        • pyre@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          then why not buy it normally like a human from earth and instead involve this lawsuit to make himself look like an absolute moron

    • deathbird@mander.xyz
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      2 months ago

      I think you’re giving the guy too much credit. Sometimes things are as they seen. He just didn’t like the moderation scheme on Twitter, made a gesture buying it, fumbled a little bit and overbid, then after having been forced to acquire it tried to turn it into something closer to what he wanted it to be.

    • scarabic@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I think it’s even pettier than that. He’s the loud guy on the forum who literally bought the site so he could be admin.

      • reka@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Honestly, everyone needs to listen to the episode of Search Engine about Elon. It’s such a clear narrative of what happened between the Iron Man cameo and now. It’s pure hubris - someone who is very unlikable desperately hungry for love to the point where his brain bust a fuse.

    • fluxion@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      We’ll never know since Musk is nurturing a state-funded “user”-base that will always keep their numbers inflated

    • frezik@midwest.social
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      2 months ago

      If he’s trying to flip elections, he needs to at least pretend it’s being operated in good faith.

  • Red_October@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Elon Musk’s greatest personal achievement has been his tireless work and incredible effort toward disproving the myth of Billionaire Exceptionalism.

    • GeneralInterest@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 months ago

      The funny part was when he said he was a free speech absolutist, but then he started restricting the free speech of people he doesn’t like

      • jonne@infosec.pub
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        2 months ago

        I actually check Twitter from time to time and it is slowly dying. Ken Klippenstein was one of the accounts I was following and now he’s gone too.

  • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 months ago

    We knew this was going to happen before he made the purchase.

    Everyone said, the best way for Elon to keep his money was to change very little, or even take a hands-off approach.

    Masnick suggested this would happen

    It was that and so much worse. Moral of the story: Running a huge social media service is hard. Maybe don’t assume that because you’re a billionaire you’re the best at doing stuff.

    • mynameisigglepiggle@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Meanwhile he is on track to become the world’s first trillionaire

      I think the purchase was more about welding power than any financial gain

      • Da Bald Eagul@feddit.nl
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        2 months ago

        He tried to back out, I don’t think any of this was about anything. He’s just a dick with a weird sense of humor.

      • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Hasn’t his wealth kinda flatlined lately though? X is doing terribly, Tesla is struggling a bit, I think SpaceX is at least doing well.

        I don’t think he’s going to be a trillionaire any time soon.

      • jaemo@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        Now, call me crazy, but if I was optimizing for maximum welding power, I’d start with oxy acetylene and at least try a few other options. How would buying a website even be a good start?

        No wonder people are making fun of him!

      • Pilgrim@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Would you not agree that he has a tool of influence with X? I see that as the main aspect of why you’d still buy twitter, even though he knew he wouldn’t earn money with that.

    • scarabic@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I mean the people at Twitter were very happy to sell it off. Remember how they actually sued to force him to go through with the deal and succeeded in stopping him from backing out?

      Even if he’d managed it as well as the prior stewards, it was always a losing business.

      • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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        2 months ago

        If the price offered is actually a good price then I think they might have some obligation to shareholders to pursue it. (Many of the people making that decision likely also being shareholders.) Like if someone offered you more than what your stuff is worth but tried to changed their mind, wouldn’t you pursue that? I don’t think that’s any sort of indicator that they thought it was a sinking ship. It’s just in their best interest to take a good deal when they get one.

        • scarabic@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I think you make a good point. But we don’t have to guess whether they thought Twitter was struggling. We know it was.

          Twitter never managed to develop an online ad business that matched the scale of its influence in popular culture and society at large. Twitter has lost money in six of the eight years since its IPO.

          Source: CNBC

          • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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            2 months ago

            My point is that if someone offers you a good price for what you believe you have have, you take it. If they thought it was good and they got a good price for it they’d take it. If they thought it was bad and they got a good price for it they’d take it.

            • scarabic@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Yes I did read your comment before :)

              You’re saying that accepting his offer is not necessarily a statement of low confidence in their own business. I get you.

              But we can’t separate the notion of it being a good price apart from its being a bad business. It was a great offer in part because the business was so poor. By all estimates he vastly overpaid.

              So yes, it was a good price.

              And yes, it was a bad business and yes they knew it. With no other offers on the table, they pulled out all the stops to ensure it went through. It was their and their shareholders only chance for a payday with the business as bleak as it was.

              All of these things are true.

    • deathbird@mander.xyz
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      2 months ago

      Masnick’s post is well put, but also a disturbing reminder of how much power nation-states can exert over the Internet.

    • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      I mean, yeah we all knew he overpaid, but losing over 75%? I didn’t expect that.