Elon Musk Is the last millionaire who took over Bad decision To try to buy Twitter.

Twitter has had its entire existence for almost sixteen years A reputation for not fulfilling its potential and that it could be so much more. Twitter’s dilemma is that it is a well-known service, but not so widely used; This is a financially successful company, but not so successful; Sometimes competently managed, but also chaotic; And influential in a way that is exciting but also terrifying.

The constant belief that Twitter only needs one wonderful idea to become amazing, many have thought about buying a company to make it shine, but It is unlikely that anyone would actually want to own it.

Whether you are addicted to Twitter or you are among the majority of users in the world who avoid the app, it does matter what happens to this company. Twitter is an increasingly digital gathering place that world leaders fear and want to control, where elected officials, activists, journalists, and executives like Musk spread their messages and settle accounts..

Musk made a semi-formal offer to buy Twitter last week, which in fact put a “for sale” sign. No one knows what will happen next.

Maybe Musk will become the owner of Twitter if he stays interested long enough to raise a lot of money to help him bid around $ 43 billion. Maybe it will be bought by another billionaire, another technology company or another financial investor. Maybe no one.

Life with an uncertain future is nothing new for Twitter. You can spend days and count how many times different companies discuss rumors about the purchase or possible sale of this information platform.

Twitter has always been for sale, partly for technical reasons. Unlike other technology and media companies, including Google, Facebook and New York TimesTwitter does not have a special type of stock that allows its founders to almost veto the sale.

However, there is also a long-held belief that Twitter should be more than it is. Many believe that all the needs of Twitter are small fixes (tweet editing feature, new administration, new type of technology for support, changing advertising strategy, reducing costs and changing app). Or more free rules. Speech, which Musk wants).

Politicians and other influential people, including Musk, regularly complain that Twitter carries out too much or too little censorship. Also, Twitter investors always argue that the company is not making enough money.

To summarize in one sentence, Twitter is not Facebook, which generates Twitter twenty-three times the annual revenue and nearly 2 billion daily users compared to Twitter’s 217 million. (Companies treat customers a little differently, but it gives you an idea.)

“Twitter’s cultural impact is as great as Facebook, even if it’s only in its twenties,” said Mark Mahein, who has been following Twitter for years as an investment analyst now with Evercore ISI. It makes people wonder, “What does Twitter need?” He said.

So be it Most of the people and companies who discussed buying Twitter in detail were scared and ran away.. In 2016, Disney rejected its takeover bid in part because executives worried it would tarnish the company’s family image if it became the owner of a comprehensive information platform. Salesforce boss Mark Benioff reconsidered when Salesforce investors hated the idea of ​​a business software company that owned Twitter.

Government officials are unlikely to allow companies that seem to sympathize with Twitter, such as Google and Facebook, to buy it because of monopoly concerns.

Twitter is great, but at the same time it is not big enough, but it is also not good enough. It’s not Facebook and that’s why a lot of people want to buy it, but at the same time they do not want to buy it because of it. Twitter can affect any owner, but also get extra unwanted attention.

Musk may be one of the few people in the world who is Brave enough (or stupid enough) to want to buy Twitter and actually buy it. Maybe Musk is the person who can finally reveal the potential of Twitter. Or maybe you just join a long list of people who once thought you could.

© New York Times 2022