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Is Elon Musk the greatest visionary or the greatest snake oil salesman of our age?

If it goes bankrupt, won't that just mean investors will lose their money and Musk can basically take it over again with no debts?
 
If it goes bankrupt, won't that just mean investors will lose their money and Musk can basically take it over again with no debts?

I think he's the only investor now? Creditors, like all the ex board members and ex staffers owed payouts will lose everything, maybe get pennies in the pound.

And it would be a source of no surprise whatsoever if there was some mechanism for him to do that. When my company recently went into administration the first question I was asked by the administrator was if I was buying the assets back...so if my little tin pot company could do that (we didn't) then I'm sure he and his lawyers could. I reckon he'll slink off into the distance to the next shiny thing though.

But I'm no expert.
 
If there are any investors left then they will also probably lose the lot. Might be able to write the losses off against tax so not a total disaster but who knows.
 
If the reporting from last year is accelerate, he lined up a lot of Silicon Valley venture capitalists and the like, people like Jason Calacanis, Larry Ellison. Think they supplied $13b and he proved the rest.

So he's got a lot of powerful people on the hook
 
If the reporting from last year is accelerate, he lined up a lot of Silicon Valley venture capitalists and the like, people like Jason Calacanis, Larry Ellison. Think they supplied $13b and he proved the rest.

So he's got a lot of powerful people on the hook

Ouch, that'll hurt, tax breaks or no. :D
 
It's easy enough once you've signed up to a server. Doesn't really matter which one apparently because you can change it later (not sure how you'd do that though).

I'm not hugely keen on the format which I've not really worked out yet. I much prefer threads like urban that you can dip in and out of.
 
I see they've got themes like 'today I learned' as on reddit.

An attempt to embed one:

<iframe src="https://noc.social/@todayilearned/109990285649874989/embed" class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><script src="https://noc.social/embed.js" async="async"></script>

and 'copy link to post'


which is a lot better :)

plus #uspolitics


and politicsuk

 
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I think he's the only investor now? Creditors, like all the ex board members and ex staffers owed payouts will lose everything, maybe get pennies in the pound.

And it would be a source of no surprise whatsoever if there was some mechanism for him to do that. When my company recently went into administration the first question I was asked by the administrator was if I was buying the assets back...so if my little tin pot company could do that (we didn't) then I'm sure he and his lawyers could. I reckon he'll slink off into the distance to the next shiny thing though.

But I'm no expert.
US bankruptcy isn't quite like it is here. He'd file for a Section 11 bankruptcy which would still leave Musk in charge while a re-organisation of finances/debts took place. But the banks would be secured investors who would be able to make massive demands upon Twitter about how to do so - and upon whether Musk could stay in charge. They'd still lose loads of money (or, rather, write it off some spreadsheets) and it might be worth them writing the whole thing off, but they would get first dibs on any assets at all.

See Elon Musk said he had to 'save Twitter from bankruptcy.' Here's what would happen if it filed for Chapter 11. for more detaily stuff
 
People talk about a decline in use of Twitter but I've not actually seen any solid evidence of a mass exodus so far. That doesn't mean it isn't in huge trouble, and I hope the wave of lawsuits heading its way is catastrophic for Musk personally
 
Yeah, that's not how that works. I'm pretty good at testing software (Well, I seem to have a reputation in the company for breaking software. which is what you want before it goes to the customer). But I'd be a shit manager.
And wonder how many of them would want to be managers... (Assuming 'promotion' applies to the non-manager (IC) route too.)
 
Twitter is not going to collapse (not anytime soon anyway) its like everything else is the world at the moment it will gradually get more shit but people will just accept it and keep using it as the don't feel they have any choice. Some people will stop and a some (a lot?) will use it less but it will plod along for some time yet.
 
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Twitter is nit going to collapse (not anytime soon anyway) its like everything else is the world at the moment it will gradually get more shit but people will just accept it and keep using it as the don't feel they have any choice. Some people will stop and a some (a lot?) will use it less but it will plod along for some time yet.
What are you basing your theory on? It certainly seems like it's collapsing.

It's lost money every years except 2018 and 2019. It's had its credit rating downgraded, and under review for a further downgrade.

Fewer Americans are using it, and Americans a responsible for more than 50% of revenue, with only 17% of the users. For each American user they lose, they'd have to gain 3 non-American users, just to maintain.

Feels like a slow decline is already underway to me.
 
It’ll be finished within 6 months I reckon, one way or another, musk’s twitter anyway. Someone else might buy the rubble.
 
What are you basing your theory on? It certainly seems like it's collapsing.

It's lost money every years except 2018 and 2019. It's had its credit rating downgraded, and under review for a further downgrade.

Fewer Americans are using it, and Americans a responsible for more than 50% of revenue, with only 17% of the users. For each American user they lose, they'd have to gain 3 non-American users, just to maintain.

Feels like a slow decline is already underway to me.
Maybe but years not months.

And with that timescale things can always change.
 
Anyone nongeek worked out how to do Mastodon yet?
It's not that hard. Just sign up here. Search hashtags or view the local or federated timelines to find people you want to follow, or follow hashtags. If you know someone's handle, put it in the search box to find their profile and follow them.

There's a thread on it here if you need any help.
 
Submedia now banned from Twitter, apparently because far right pretend journalist Andy Ngo whined about it to the admins. Pretty amazing really, I was under the impression they'd fired all the staff who worked on ban policy but seems at least one person is still at it, valiantly banning anti-fascists ...

 
(…) Pretty amazing really, I was under the impression they'd fired all the staff who worked on ban policy but seems at least one person is still at it, valiantly banning anti-fascists ...
The people who still work under the shitty conditions Musk has created at Twitter are either people whose visa means they lose their residential status if fired, or a self-selecting bunch of assholes who believe in his mission and accept being treated like shit because they’re fighting for the (alt right) cause. Don’t expect a particularly balanced moderation of the platform going forwards.
 
The people who still work under the shitty conditions Musk has created at Twitter are either people whose visa means they lose their residential status if fired, or a self-selecting bunch of assholes who believe in his mission and accept being treated like shit because they’re fighting for the (alt right) cause. Don’t expect a particularly balanced moderation of the platform going forwards.
Or they are displaying a not uncommon ability to put up with shit behaviour from their employer.

Where are you going with this? Do you mean the remaining workforce is 'complicit' in Musk's cuntishness in some way that is different from the employees of any other capitalist business? Are you suggesting they are 'asking for it' by staying in an abusive relationship?
 
I don't think you're saying this, but I'd note there does come a point where "just doing my job" starts to sound a bit iffy.
You mean like those NHS workers who don't just walk away from intolerable conditions, which in some cases are now starting to lead to avoidable deaths? Would it be ok to caricature them as sad helpless dependants or 'Dr Mengele's little elves' ? Or should we instead be caricaturing them as 'Heroes'? Obviously we should be doing none of those things.

Twitter isn't the NHS. But then it also isn't the police.

Caricaturing bosses, even ones who aren't Musk level cunts: no problem. Caricaturing capitalist enterprises, even those ones supplying goods or services we depend on: no problem. Provided in both cases you don't lose sight of the difference between caricature and reality.

However Musk isn't just a pantomime Dr Evil (even if he appears to aspire to it) and his employees aren't just Minions.
 
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