This could come as no shock, however Elon Musk doesn’t see a draw back to being extraordinarily on-line.
Okay, so I’ve received 127 million followers and it continues to develop very quickly
“Let me verify my Twitter account,” he mentioned in a Tesla earnings name Wednesday night. “Okay, so I’ve received 127 million followers and it continues to develop very quickly.”
Simply have a look at that scoreboard.
“That means that I’m fairly standard,” Musk continued. “May not be standard with some folks. However for the overwhelming majority of individuals, the observe account speaks for itself.”
It’s a weird assertion from somebody who’s fairly actually on trial on the premise that his tweets have precipitated measurable chaos, each for himself, his traders, and his firm. Musk is dealing with probably billions of {dollars} in damages from a category of Tesla traders who allege that Musk’s tweets misled them and mentioned that counting on his statements to make trades price them important quantities of cash.
“I’m fairly standard”
That 2018 tweet has already price him $40 million — $20 million from Tesla and $20 million from him personally — as a way to settle a securities fraud lawsuit from the SEC. Twitter is free for most individuals to make use of, however for Elon Musk, the prices have been disproportionately excessive.
On the earnings name, Musk rattled off a fast pitch for Twitter, noting that it’s an “extremely highly effective instrument” that drives demand for Tesla’s automobiles (the corporate simply instituted a large value lower to account for flagging demand) and suggesting that different automotive CEOs ought to tweet like him to drive gross sales. (Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess tried doing precisely that; he was out of a job a 12 months later.)
It’s honest to say that Musk’s Twitter utilization has been a catastrophe. His acquisition of the social media firm has diminished his personal web value and left him saddled with debt. A rising variety of Tesla house owners who purchased into his early claims of a extra sustainable future at the moment are embarrassed to be seen driving one among his vehicles. His traders are begging him to cease tweeting, however after all, Elon Musk won’t ever cease.
Twitter, it’s typically mentioned, just isn’t actual life. However to Musk, it’s all that and extra.