SAN FRANCISCO — For weeks, Elon Musk has publicly trashed Twitter, despite the fact that he’s shopping for the corporate in a $44 billion deal. On Thursday, he lastly acted like an proprietor.
In an hourlong question-and-answer session within the morning with Twitter’s 8,000 or so staff — the primary time Mr. Musk has spoken with them since he agreed to purchase the social media firm in April — the world’s richest man opened up about his plans for the service. In an effusive and at instances rambling deal with, he touched on subjects as diverse as progress, potential layoffs, anonymity, Chinese language apps, the existence of alien life-forms and even the cosmic nature of Twitter.
“I would like Twitter to contribute to a greater, long-lasting civilization the place we higher perceive the character of actuality,” Mr. Musk mentioned within the assembly, which was livestreamed to Twitter staff and which The New York Instances listened to.
The 50-year-old added that he hoped the service might assist humankind “higher perceive the character of the universe, as a lot as it’s potential to know.”
The assembly, which Mr. Musk participated in from his cellphone in what gave the impression to be a resort room, prompt that he was set on closing the blockbuster acquisition. His intentions had been doubtful in current weeks when the billionaire, who additionally runs the electrical carmaker Tesla and the rocket firm SpaceX, repeatedly raised questions on Twitter’s pretend accounts in an obvious pretext for doubtlessly ending or renegotiating the deal.
Since April, the famously mercurial Mr. Musk has tweeted that the acquisition was “on maintain” and accused Twitter of “actively resisting and thwarting” his rights. At one other level, he had criticized a number of the firm’s executives. He made his inflammatory feedback as world markets tumbled and shares of Tesla, that are his predominant supply of wealth, plummeted.
The antics from Mr. Musk, who’s paying $54.20 a share to purchase Twitter, had left traders, the corporate’s staff and others guessing as to what he may do. Twitter’s inventory is now buying and selling round $37. But the corporate has insisted that the deal stays on observe and that it has been sharing data with Mr. Musk, who’s on the hook for a breakup charge of $1 billion if he walks away.
Mr. Musk didn’t straight deal with on Thursday whether or not he would shut the cope with Twitter, however he made it clear to staff that he had grand ambitions.
In the course of the dialog, which was moderated by Twitter’s chief advertising officer, Leslie Berland, Mr. Musk mentioned he hoped to increase the service to multiple billion customers the world over. That might be practically 4 instances the variety of present customers. He added that he was hands-on at Tesla and anticipated to be so at Twitter.
Even with such a efficiency, some cautioned that Mr. Musk may nonetheless change his thoughts about finishing the deal for Twitter.
“I assume he’s working on two tracks,” mentioned Ann Lipton, a professor of company governance at Tulane Legislation Faculty. “Perhaps he needs to decrease the worth and even cancel the deal. If the deal goes by means of, he needs further traders.”
She added: “Publicly speaking to Twitter staff, making an attempt to assuage their issues, possibly provides reassurances to potential traders. However I’m not clear whether or not that’s his Plan B or his Plan A.”
Twitter declined to touch upon the assembly, and Mr. Musk didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Mr. Musk had been scheduled to talk to Twitter’s staff weeks in the past, however the session didn’t happen. Then over the previous week, the San Francisco-based firm started accumulating questions for him from staff on its inside Slack messaging system. The assembly, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. San Francisco time, started a couple of minutes late, with Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief govt, thanking Mr. Musk.
Then Mr. Musk began answering questions, together with about distant work. This month, he despatched memos to employees at Tesla and SpaceX saying he anticipated them to be within the workplace for 40 hours every week. Twitter’s staff have largely labored remotely within the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr. Musk informed Twitter staff that he was open to their working remotely, provided that growing software program is completely different from exhibiting up each day to construct automobiles. However he mentioned a broad lack of in-office participation might contribute to a dwindling “esprit de corps” and hoped that individuals can be keen to enter the workplace extra sooner or later.
Mr. Musk dodged straight answering whether or not there can be layoffs at Twitter, although his reply was considerably ominous.
“Proper now, prices exceed income,” he mentioned. “That’s not a fantastic scenario.”
At one other level, he digressed right into a dialogue about whether or not extraterrestrial life was potential, although it was unclear the place he netted out. He additionally introduced up the Chinese language apps WeChat and TikTok as aspirational, provided that WeChat is so embedded in individuals’s each day lives in China and TikTok is “not boring.”
One enchancment that Mr. Musk mentioned he wished to make was including funds know-how to Twitter. Ideally, customers would be capable to ship cash forwards and backwards by means of the service, much like how merchandise like Venmo or Sq. Money function.
How Elon Musk’s Twitter Deal Unfolded
A blockbuster deal. Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man, capped what appeared an inconceivable try by the famously mercurial billionaire to purchase Twitter for roughly $44 billion. Right here’s how the deal unfolded:
Mr. Musk, a longtime energy person of Twitter with greater than 98 million followers, has lengthy mentioned he believes the corporate’s potential is underutilized. He has added that he hopes to rejuvenate the service outdoors the attention of the general public markets by taking the corporate non-public and making vital modifications to how Twitter operates.
Inside Twitter, some staff have had combined emotions about Mr. Musk. Some have mentioned they’re involved by his Twitter habits and murky politics.
On Thursday, staff at SpaceX circulated a memo saying that they had been additionally involved about their chief govt’s public habits — notably how he acted on Twitter — and that it mirrored poorly on staff.
“Elon’s habits within the public sphere is a frequent supply of distraction and embarrassment for us,” learn the letter, which was obtained by The Instances and reported earlier by The Verge. “As our C.E.O. and most distinguished spokesperson, Elon is seen because the face of SpaceX — each tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public assertion by the corporate.”
Others at Twitter have mentioned they had been frightened by how Mr. Musk needs to take a laissez-faire strategy to policing the platform.
On Thursday, he emphasised that he wished to make Twitter as inclusive a platform as potential, largely by gaining extra customers, including that he wouldn’t permit felony acts to be carried out on the community. He mentioned that he additionally didn’t wish to make individuals use their actual names on Twitter and that there was utility in utilizing pseudonyms to precise political opinions on the service.
Some Twitter staff, who’ve pointed to Mr. Musk’s status as an innovator, mentioned they felt heartened after Thursday’s assembly. Mr. Musk was not hostile and appeared to have a imaginative and prescient for the product, regardless of not with the ability to enunciate it clearly at instances, they mentioned. Others mentioned he had not addressed their questions, with one worker writing in an inside Slack message, which was seen by The Instances, that “in the event you took a drink every time he answered a query, you’d be painfully sober on the finish of this.”
Mr. Musk was noncommittal when requested if he deliberate to imagine the chief govt position at Twitter when he took over the corporate. He mentioned he wasn’t a conventional C.E.O. and pointed to his title at Tesla, which is Technoking. However he additionally famous that he had many concepts for product updates and the way the service ought to evolve, and that he would make these identified to others throughout the firm.
“I do anticipate that they’ll take heed to me on this regard,” Mr. Musk mentioned.
Ryan Mac and Lauren Hirsch contributed reporting.
