Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Business

Elon Musk admits that owning Twitter has been painful

Elon Musk said he bought Twitter because it was the “right thing to do” but admitted that it has been “painful” and “stressful”.

The billionaire also said that the social media company is “roughly breaking even” as advertisers have started to come back.

He made the comments in an interview with the BBC which was broadcast live on Twitter Spaces and attracted more than three million listeners.

When asked if he had any regrets about buying Twitter, Musk said the “pain level has been extremely high, this hasn’t been some kind of party”.

“Were there many mistakes made a long the way? Of course,” he said. “But all’s well that ends well, I feel like we’re headed to a good place.”

Twitter has been hit by a huge decline in advertising since Musk acquired the company for $44 billion in October. Musk had said that was due to the cyclical nature of spending on advertising and some of which was “political” but most of its advertisers have returned.

He said firing thousands of staff was “not fun at all”. There are now 1,500 Twitter staff compared with nearly 8,000 when he bought it.

Concerns over Twitter’s stability have been widespread since the Musk deal.

Musk, 51, also runs Tesla, the electric carmaker, and SpaceX, the rockets and satellites group. He is the world’s second richest person, according to Bloomberg, with a $181 billion fortune largely derived from stakes in the two companies.

When asked if he would sell Twitter if he was offered the price he paid for it, he said no. He then clarified that saying he would but only if he could be sure that the buyer was as committed to telling the truth.

On tweets, he said: “Have I shot myself in the foot with tweets multiple times? Yes. I think I should not tweet after 3am.”

At one stage in the interview, Musk stopped the BBC correspondent James Clayton to remind him that he’s “no longer the CEO of Twitter”. When asked who was, Musk named his pet dog Floki, a Shiba Inu.

He added that Twitter would update the BBC’s “government-funded media” tag after the broadcaster objected to the label attached to the main @BBC account.

Musk said he has the “utmost respect” for the organisation. “We want [the tag] as truthful and accurate as possible — we’re adjusting the label to [the BBC being] publicly funded — we’ll try to be accurate,” he said.

He previously described the BBC as “among the least biased” news organisations.

The broadcaster said in a statement after the label was released: “The BBC is, and always has been, independent. We are funded by the British public through the licence fee.”

On the issue of legacy verified blue ticks on Twitter, Musk said they would be all be removed from accounts by next week.

He admitted he had an “odd” relationship with the media, describing it as “love-hate, perhaps more hate”.

“The media is able to trash me on a regular basis in the US and the UK,” he said, adding that in some countries “the media can’t say mean things about powerful people”. Although he feels that it is good to have a free press, in which he and other “powerful people” can be criticised.

Read more:
Elon Musk admits that owning Twitter has been painful

Advertisement

    You May Also Like

    Investing

    RevisingTheBankSecrecyAct_NorbertMichelAndJenniferSchulp_CMFAWP007   The post Revising the Bank Secrecy Act to Protect Privacy and Deter Criminals (CMFA Working Paper No.007) appeared first on Alt-M.

    Investing

    Recently, an investment advisor and Bitcoin proponent tweeted the claim that “[f]or most of human history” the “[s]eparation of money and state was the...

    Business

    Rollee enables worker’s to share their professional data, spread over one or more financial platforms. Ali Hamriti, CEO and Co-Founder of Rollee, is on...

    Business

    The energy crisis means that as the price of wholesale commercial energy hits an unprecedented high, businesses must pay notably more for their energy...

    Disclaimer: successfuldealnow.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2024 successfuldealnow.com | All Rights Reserved