1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to tex Stuff production from my Heart Radio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:19,280 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio and how 4 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:24,279 Speaker 1: the tech are Yet we are marching on down the 5 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 1: timeline to talk about the really big tech news stories 6 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:31,360 Speaker 1: of the past year, and as this week has shown, 7 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,600 Speaker 1: there were a lot of those. I have done three 8 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: full length episodes about important text stories that unfolded in 9 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:43,200 Speaker 1: two and I hadn't even really touched on the one 10 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: that I probably talked about the most in our tech 11 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,239 Speaker 1: news episodes, at least in the second half of this year, 12 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,559 Speaker 1: which is all about Twitter. So we're gonna do that 13 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: one today. But before I get into that, I also 14 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 1: want to mention a different story, and this one won't 15 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: take too long. So our first story is an update 16 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:07,800 Speaker 1: on Pharaonis. So this was the medical tech company founded 17 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 1: way back in two thousand three by Elizabeth Holmes, and 18 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,759 Speaker 1: it aimed to create a blood analysis device that could 19 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: run more than a hundred medical tests on a micro 20 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:22,720 Speaker 1: drop of blood. And the pitch was that you would 21 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:25,240 Speaker 1: be able to run such tests in a device that 22 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: was about the size of a desktop printer and that 23 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: in fact, in the future, maybe you know, your average 24 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: person would have one of these and they could run 25 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: a blood test at a moment's notice and get reliable 26 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: results and be able to practice better preventable care and 27 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. There was only one real problem. 28 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,200 Speaker 1: The tech didn't work, at least not to the extent 29 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: that it needed to work, and the company, the anis Obvius, 30 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:58,080 Speaker 1: skated that by using various shady tactics to keep investors 31 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: hoodwinked and you know, invested. And that all started to 32 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: fall apart back in two thousand, two thousand sixteen. Now, 33 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: at its height, the company was valued at more than 34 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 1: nine billion dollars, and when it all came crashing down, 35 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 1: the Justice Department wanted to hold some folks accountable for 36 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: multiple reasons. Now, there were the obvious reasons that I 37 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: can really get behind, like the fact that there were 38 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: people who depended upon getting accurate blood test results and 39 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: their health was potentially in danger because of the actions 40 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: of this company. There was also the reason that you know, 41 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: rich people lost money by pouring investments into this. I know, 42 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: I'm a broken record that I complained so much that 43 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: the US Justice seems to uh to favor matters that 44 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:56,960 Speaker 1: involve rich people losing money more than anything else. And 45 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: I know that that's not necessarily the case all way 46 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,400 Speaker 1: across the board, but Holy cal twenty twenty two really 47 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: brought that into sharp relief in many instances. So I'll 48 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 1: take my cynical hat off, will just cover the story. So, 49 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Holmes and her ex boyfriend and ex Soronis president 50 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: Ramesh Sunny bal Wannie both stood trial for multiple accounts 51 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: of fraud and similar charges and both were found guilty. 52 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: And this year, six years after Tharonis started to crumble, 53 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: Holmes and bal Wannie finally received their sentences. Holmes has 54 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,280 Speaker 1: been sentenced to eleven years in federal prison and bal 55 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:43,200 Speaker 1: Wanni is looking at thirteen years. Now. There's a lot 56 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: more to this story, obviously, but perhaps I'll do a 57 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: follow up to my previous Saronis episode at some point. Now. 58 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 1: The reason that I wanted to start off this episode 59 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: with that story is that I have this kind of 60 00:03:56,520 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: armchair psychology pet hypothesis when it comes to Elizabeth Holmes 61 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: and Elon Musk, and we'll be talking a lot about 62 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: Elon Musk in a moment, and that hypothesis is that 63 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:12,320 Speaker 1: these folks seem to be inclined to think that just 64 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 1: because they want something to be possible, it must therefore 65 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 1: be possible. So with Holmes, it seems like this idea 66 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:26,840 Speaker 1: that technology should be able to overcome these challenges is, 67 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,599 Speaker 1: you know, possible, because it sounds like it should be. 68 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:34,839 Speaker 1: That technology is so incredible with what it can do. Obviously, 69 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:37,800 Speaker 1: we should be able to run a hundred or more 70 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 1: medical tests on a micro droplet of blood, and it 71 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:46,719 Speaker 1: ignores the actual physical obstacles that are in the way 72 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,840 Speaker 1: of allowing that to happen, even though there were mentors 73 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:55,680 Speaker 1: and experts who were warning Homes that this idea probably 74 00:04:55,800 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: wasn't going to work. With Musk well, from the hyperloop 75 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: to the apparent belief that Twitter could implement massive sweeping 76 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: changes without negative consequences, seems to indicate that he doesn't 77 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:12,520 Speaker 1: have a real understanding of things. And again, this is 78 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: sort of my personal hypothesis. I am aware I could 79 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:20,760 Speaker 1: easily be proven wrong. Maybe Holmes never worried about whether 80 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:22,919 Speaker 1: or not her tech would work. Maybe it was a 81 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:26,159 Speaker 1: scam from the beginning. I don't get that sense, But 82 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe Musk is playing some three D 83 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: or four D or five D chess the way some 84 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:35,720 Speaker 1: people claim, But honestly, the feeling I get is that 85 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:39,479 Speaker 1: Checkers is really more his speed. All right, So let's 86 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 1: talk Twitter. The social network company has been around since 87 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:47,840 Speaker 1: two thousand six, three years after Therainus had been founded, 88 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: if you can believe it. Seven years later, in two 89 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,760 Speaker 1: thousand thirteen, Twitter held its initial public offering or i 90 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,719 Speaker 1: p O. That's when it transitioned from being a privately 91 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: held company to a publicly traded company. It would take 92 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: another five years in eighteen for Twitter to post its 93 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 1: first annual profits. But that same year ten Twitter had 94 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:16,159 Speaker 1: this nagging problem. See in Twitter had around three hundred 95 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:19,480 Speaker 1: thirty million users. By the end of twenty eighteen, it's 96 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,719 Speaker 1: first profitable year, it was down to three hundred twenty 97 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:26,359 Speaker 1: one million users. That had lost nine million users in 98 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 1: the year, so it was starting to make a profit, 99 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:34,480 Speaker 1: but it was losing millions of users. Twitter has been 100 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: having issues for ages. It clearly was serving a useful purpose, 101 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: particularly in the world of journalism. You had reporters and 102 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,120 Speaker 1: editors who were using Twitter to network with each other, 103 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:50,160 Speaker 1: also to make contact with important people. They landed interview 104 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: opportunities through Twitter, so it was definitely serving an important purpose, 105 00:06:56,120 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: but it was also a very useful network force, say 106 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 1: malicious misinformation campaigns. And then of course there were the trolls. 107 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:09,440 Speaker 1: So Twitter has a bit of a dodgy reputation when 108 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:14,679 Speaker 1: it comes to handling abuse on its platform. In some cases, 109 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: the company has acted swiftly, but in others the slow 110 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: response or lack of response has meant that some people 111 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 1: have suffered a lot more abuse while waiting for Twitter 112 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: to do anything about it. The gamer Gate affair is 113 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 1: a good example. People in the video games industry, primarily women, 114 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: became the targets of persistent and extreme abuse, and many 115 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: of them found it impossible to get any response from 116 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: Twitter to to fix this or to act on it. 117 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: In November, Jack Dorsey, one of the co founders of 118 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:55,360 Speaker 1: Twitter and two times CEO for the company, stepped down now. 119 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 1: One reason for his departure was that Dorsey is also 120 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 1: the CEO of a company called Block Incorporated. That's the 121 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:06,200 Speaker 1: company behind the popular Square payment processing app. There were 122 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 1: also concerns among stakeholders that Dorsey's attention was too divided 123 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:13,600 Speaker 1: because he was having to provide leadership to two big 124 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: companies at the same time. We should kind of remember 125 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: that because that will very much be relevant later in 126 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: this episode. So Dorsey would step down in November, and 127 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:29,760 Speaker 1: a man named Parague Agrival becomes CEO of Twitter. Now 128 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:32,800 Speaker 1: Agrival had joined Twitter way back in two thousand eleven, 129 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,320 Speaker 1: so before the company had even gone public. He initially 130 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:39,640 Speaker 1: worked as a software engineer, but by two thousand seventeen 131 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:42,520 Speaker 1: he had worked his way up to chief Technology officer 132 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:46,360 Speaker 1: of the whole company. So Agreval would end up serving 133 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:50,000 Speaker 1: as CEO beginning in November one, and he stayed in 134 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:55,079 Speaker 1: that position for not quite a full year. Okay, now 135 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:58,800 Speaker 1: we're moving up to the beginning of two thousand twenty two. 136 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 1: At the star of the year, Twitter's stock was trading 137 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:06,040 Speaker 1: at just under forty dollars a share. This was down 138 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 1: from the company's high of seventy seven dollars a share. 139 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: It had hit that in early one and since then 140 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:17,000 Speaker 1: had not really enjoyed those same heights. In early April, 141 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:22,080 Speaker 1: news broke that Elon Musk, who at the time was 142 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 1: the world's richest man and was known as the CEO 143 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: of Tesla and SpaceX, had purchased nine point two percent 144 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 1: of Twitter through stock purchases. That he had been doing 145 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:40,120 Speaker 1: this since January of this year, so earlier in the year, 146 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 1: Musk had been complaining that Twitter was quote failing to 147 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:47,600 Speaker 1: adhere to free speech principles end quote, and that Twitter, 148 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:52,840 Speaker 1: as a sort of online public town square, was undermining 149 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:59,280 Speaker 1: democracy by suppressing freedom of speech. Never Mind that Twitter 150 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:02,600 Speaker 1: as a company, not a government, so the whole First 151 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:09,240 Speaker 1: Amendment argument does not apply because First Amendment protects citizens 152 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:12,720 Speaker 1: in the United States against the government from suppressing free speech. 153 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:17,239 Speaker 1: It does not protect them against a company enacting its policies. 154 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 1: But never mind that must also entertain the notion of 155 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:24,560 Speaker 1: making his own social network platform, but that was something 156 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:28,120 Speaker 1: that was already being done in other platforms like parlor 157 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,480 Speaker 1: Gab and truth Social, all of which have had different 158 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:36,959 Speaker 1: challenges since their founding, and all of which position themselves 159 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,679 Speaker 1: as being more faithful to the concept of free speech. 160 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 1: They also cater more towards the far right of the 161 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:49,120 Speaker 1: political spectrum. Now, y'all, the stuff Twitter cracked down on 162 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:53,360 Speaker 1: and would act on when it comes to speech usually 163 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: falls into categories like abuse, misinformation, and things like calls 164 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:01,439 Speaker 1: for violence. And the high profile accounts that had been 165 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:04,800 Speaker 1: banned were very much connected to these kinds of violations. 166 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 1: But Musk was repeating some of the talking points spread 167 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:12,720 Speaker 1: on the far right that Twitter was authoritatively deciding who 168 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: would be allowed to speak and who wouldn't, And as 169 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:18,079 Speaker 1: he would learn the hard way later on, things aren't 170 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:21,079 Speaker 1: always so cut and dry. But you know, I don't 171 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:25,600 Speaker 1: want to get ahead of myself anyway. Musk's purchase of 172 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:28,840 Speaker 1: this massive amount of Twitter stock made him the largest 173 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:33,080 Speaker 1: single shareholder in Twitter, and the general belief was that 174 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:35,360 Speaker 1: he was going to use these shares to push for 175 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: changes within the company. Musk even got an invitation to 176 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 1: join Twitter's board of directors, which Bloomberg reported that he 177 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:47,320 Speaker 1: had accepted, and it looks like initially he did accept. 178 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 1: But by doing so, Musk would forfeit any chance of 179 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 1: taking over Twitter entirely, because if you were to become 180 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: a member of Twitter's board of directors, that came with 181 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:00,880 Speaker 1: a kind of limit built in to it. No board 182 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:04,000 Speaker 1: member would be allowed to own more than fourteen point 183 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:07,080 Speaker 1: nine percent of the company while serving on the board 184 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:11,360 Speaker 1: of directors. So a few days later the New York 185 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:15,320 Speaker 1: Times clarified things Musk had chosen not to join the 186 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:18,240 Speaker 1: board of directors. He changed his mind, perhaps with the 187 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:21,880 Speaker 1: aim of making a move to take over Twitter entirely. 188 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:26,680 Speaker 1: So Musk was also slagging off on Twitter about Twitter. 189 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:31,400 Speaker 1: So he was saying things like maybe the company's HQ 190 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:34,800 Speaker 1: should be converted into a homeless shelter since it was 191 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:38,880 Speaker 1: so empty all the time. He said that, you know, 192 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:42,800 Speaker 1: his followers should let him know if Twitter itself was dying. 193 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:45,800 Speaker 1: He he loves to post Twitter polls. He has done 194 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,960 Speaker 1: this so many times, so he posted a poll asking 195 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 1: is Twitter dying? I'd love to see him ask the 196 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:57,080 Speaker 1: same question now. But hey, you might ask why would 197 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:01,120 Speaker 1: you go and then by billions of dollars worth of 198 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:06,240 Speaker 1: stock in a company and then immediately start bad mouthing 199 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:09,640 Speaker 1: the company you invested in? Why would you invest in 200 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 1: the company? And then you know, say the company is terrible? 201 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:16,360 Speaker 1: Like how does that make sense? Isn't that a pretty 202 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:18,800 Speaker 1: dumb way to invest your money? And the answer to 203 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 1: that is yes, unless maybe you're planning on trying to 204 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:25,400 Speaker 1: buy the dang thing outright and in the process you're 205 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 1: hoping to maybe drive the price down a little bit. 206 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:33,040 Speaker 1: That could potentially be a thing. On April twenty two, 207 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:37,079 Speaker 1: Elon Musk did in fact offer to buy Twitter. The 208 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:39,560 Speaker 1: price he was looking at was at a fifty four 209 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: dollars and twenty cents per share of stock, and at 210 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,120 Speaker 1: the time the stock was trading it around forty five 211 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:50,679 Speaker 1: dollars per share. So saying that we'll pay fifty four 212 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:55,480 Speaker 1: twenty when you would otherwise get forty five, that's a premium, right, 213 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:59,840 Speaker 1: that's a good boost over the going price of the stock. 214 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:05,520 Speaker 1: And thus shareholders would be incentivized to agree to this deal. 215 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:09,560 Speaker 1: So the deal in total would cost around forty four 216 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:12,760 Speaker 1: billion dollars. And Musk said that Twitter needed to be 217 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:16,800 Speaker 1: transformed and it could only go through this transformation if 218 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: it were a private company, so it didn't have to 219 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,520 Speaker 1: answer to, you know, a board of directors and shareholders. Now, 220 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:27,600 Speaker 1: initially the board of directors resisted Musk's move. The method 221 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 1: they used is called a poison pill. Now, if you're 222 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:34,320 Speaker 1: like me and you're not super big in the investment world, 223 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 1: a poison pill might be a new term to you. 224 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:40,120 Speaker 1: And a poison pill is when a company does its 225 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:43,720 Speaker 1: best to make it more difficult for an outside entity 226 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:46,440 Speaker 1: to execute a hostile takeover. And there's a couple of 227 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:50,160 Speaker 1: different ways companies can do this. In Twitter's case, the 228 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 1: approach was to give Twitter's stockholders, with the exception of 229 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:57,800 Speaker 1: Elon Musk, a chance to purchase additional shares of Twitter 230 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 1: and a discounted price. Now, adding more shares means that 231 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: Musk's nine percent ownership would end up getting diluted. So, 232 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:09,880 Speaker 1: in other words, like if you had a hundred apples 233 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:13,520 Speaker 1: and one person bought nine apples from you, and an 234 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:17,560 Speaker 1: apple represents voting power, and you're like, oh, I don't 235 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: want this person to have nine of the vote. Maybe 236 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: you add another hundred apples and you don't let this 237 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:26,280 Speaker 1: person buy any and thus you dilute their ownership of 238 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:28,760 Speaker 1: your stock of apples. That's kind of the idea that 239 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:31,280 Speaker 1: was going on here, But as it would turn out, 240 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:34,800 Speaker 1: things would go in a different direction. I'll explain more 241 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:47,440 Speaker 1: after we come back from this break. Okay, we're now 242 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:52,160 Speaker 1: up to April two. This is a week after Elon 243 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,560 Speaker 1: Musk first announced his intention to buy Twitter. Then he 244 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:59,440 Speaker 1: said that he had secured more than forty six billion 245 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:02,840 Speaker 1: dollars financing that would be needed for him to purchase 246 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:06,400 Speaker 1: the company. A few days later, in April twenty, Twitter's 247 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 1: board of directors reversed its position. Remember they had previously 248 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:16,040 Speaker 1: resisted this acquisition and had administered the poison pill. So 249 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:19,920 Speaker 1: they change course and they agree to the original terms 250 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 1: of a forty four billion dollar acquisition deal. And Elon 251 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:29,280 Speaker 1: Musk agrees to this. Then Elon Musk goes and sells 252 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:35,080 Speaker 1: some of his Testlas stock to apparently helped fund this acquisition. Uh, 253 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:37,440 Speaker 1: this was enough to amount to around eight and a 254 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:41,560 Speaker 1: half billion dollars worth of stock. That is a jaw 255 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:45,040 Speaker 1: dropping amount of money. And you might wonder how that 256 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 1: all works out. I mean, you wouldn't be the only one. 257 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: Some analysts have long said that, you know, Testlas stock 258 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 1: is is drastically overvalued and has been for ages. Like 259 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: there are a lot of analysts who say that Tesla 260 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:05,720 Speaker 1: is valued much, much, much higher than established automotive companies 261 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 1: that produce way more vehicles per year than Tesla manages 262 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:12,480 Speaker 1: to do, and that, uh, it's just a matter of 263 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:16,840 Speaker 1: time before Tesla stock ends up being go undergoing what 264 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:20,200 Speaker 1: would be considered a market correction. And you could argue 265 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:22,720 Speaker 1: that that's what's happening right now, because back in April, 266 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:25,680 Speaker 1: Teslas stock was trading it more than three hundred dollars 267 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:29,119 Speaker 1: per share. Today, as I record this, Tesla stock is 268 00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:33,320 Speaker 1: trading at around a hundred thirty one dollars a share. 269 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:38,000 Speaker 1: That is a huge drop. It's been a bad week 270 00:17:38,119 --> 00:17:40,240 Speaker 1: because earlier this week it was up to a hundred 271 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:42,480 Speaker 1: fifty and now it's down to around a hundred thirty. 272 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:45,560 Speaker 1: So things are not going well for Tesla stock. But 273 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:48,720 Speaker 1: that's another story which I was hoping I might be 274 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:50,240 Speaker 1: able to touch on a little bit at the end 275 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:52,960 Speaker 1: of this episode, but as you will hear, I just 276 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,640 Speaker 1: don't have the time because Twitter takes up too much 277 00:17:55,640 --> 00:18:00,359 Speaker 1: of it anyway. So Musk owns a lot of shares 278 00:18:00,359 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 1: of teslent put it lightly, and at the time they 279 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:06,639 Speaker 1: were worth a ton of money. So while he sold 280 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:09,760 Speaker 1: off a decent chunk to make eight and a half billion, 281 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:13,440 Speaker 1: that just represents a part of his ownership of Tesla 282 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:18,080 Speaker 1: and a a part of his fortune. In early May, 283 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:22,200 Speaker 1: Musk secured another seven billion dollars from various investors, which 284 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 1: included Larry Ellison, the co founder of Oracle, and also 285 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:31,080 Speaker 1: a chunk of change dedicated from Finance, the cryptocurrency exchange 286 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:33,800 Speaker 1: that I talked about a bit in the Crypto Winter 287 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,400 Speaker 1: episode I did. This week, The New York Times reported 288 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:40,360 Speaker 1: that Musk had met with investors and promised them that 289 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 1: by twenty twenty eight, he would quintuple the company's revenue. 290 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:49,200 Speaker 1: He would increase it by five times, is what he said. 291 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:52,480 Speaker 1: That would be quite the achievement all by itself, let 292 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:56,840 Speaker 1: alone an achievement after you consider the company's revenue right now. 293 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:01,600 Speaker 1: So again, spoil or alert. Things are not going well 294 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:03,760 Speaker 1: for Twitter on the revenue front, but I am getting 295 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:06,359 Speaker 1: ahead of myself again. He also stirred the pot by 296 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:09,840 Speaker 1: announcing that he planned to reverse Twitter's ban on Donald Trump, 297 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:13,480 Speaker 1: who had received a lifetime ban for violations of Twitter's policies. 298 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:17,679 Speaker 1: So he was, you know, Elon Musk really likes to 299 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:22,399 Speaker 1: be ah. I can't say the word on this show, 300 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:26,880 Speaker 1: a beep stir. I'll say, we'll just use the word beep. 301 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,560 Speaker 1: But you probably could figure out what I mean anyway. 302 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 1: A couple of leaders at Twitter then left, and the 303 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:36,879 Speaker 1: company also announced that it was holding a hiring freeze 304 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:41,760 Speaker 1: in anticipation of Musk's acquisition of Twitter. Then we get 305 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,640 Speaker 1: to mayt So at this point, where about a month 306 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:49,879 Speaker 1: out from when Musk initially announced his plan to acquire Twitter. 307 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:53,640 Speaker 1: That's when Musk tweets out that the deal is on whole. 308 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:58,240 Speaker 1: Why well, Musk claims it's because he's worried about the 309 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:00,840 Speaker 1: number of bots that are on Twitter, or specifically that 310 00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:03,760 Speaker 1: there were way more bots on Twitter than the company 311 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:10,160 Speaker 1: had previously indicated. And now, for some Jonathan commentary, now, 312 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:15,440 Speaker 1: I think that at best, Musk's excuse about bots was disingenuous. 313 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:19,719 Speaker 1: One of the things that Musk was complaining about leading 314 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:22,159 Speaker 1: up to his announcement of his plan to acquire the 315 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:25,360 Speaker 1: company in the first place was his perception that there 316 00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:28,480 Speaker 1: were too many bots on Twitter, which, you know, seems 317 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:31,119 Speaker 1: to indicate that he was aware there was this bot 318 00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:34,760 Speaker 1: issue that one of his priorities when taking ownership of 319 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,359 Speaker 1: the company was going to be to reduce the number 320 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:42,480 Speaker 1: or even potentially eliminate bots on the platform. So, in 321 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:45,760 Speaker 1: other words, the picture he was presenting was that he 322 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:49,440 Speaker 1: viewed bots as already being an issue on the platform 323 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:53,680 Speaker 1: before the whole acquisition thing got started, and that one 324 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:56,520 Speaker 1: of the reasons he wanted to buy Twitter was that 325 00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:58,760 Speaker 1: he saw Twitter as being a valuable tool, but it 326 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:02,479 Speaker 1: needed to be cleared, it had to be a clean house. 327 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:07,639 Speaker 1: But now he's saying, Hey, whoa, there's boats on this platform. 328 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:12,360 Speaker 1: You didn't say anything about bots, which again seems disingenuous 329 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:17,480 Speaker 1: at best. Complicating matters is that Musk had waived due 330 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,800 Speaker 1: diligence when agreeing to buy Twitter. Now, if any of 331 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:22,879 Speaker 1: you all out there have ever been in the market 332 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:27,600 Speaker 1: to buy a house, you know due diligence is really important. 333 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:30,639 Speaker 1: So during this process you might find out that the 334 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:34,960 Speaker 1: house you're looking at has some serious issues. Now, maybe 335 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:38,200 Speaker 1: those issues are serious enough to make you rethink purchasing 336 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:40,120 Speaker 1: the house and you can back out of the deal 337 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:44,800 Speaker 1: and then continue your search elsewhere. But Musk waived that 338 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:47,120 Speaker 1: right with Twitter, so that would mean that even if 339 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:50,879 Speaker 1: something did pop up, that was a massive problem. He 340 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,399 Speaker 1: had already agreed to purchase the company, and it's a 341 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:59,160 Speaker 1: binding agreement, but Musk seemed to want out, and there 342 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:01,119 Speaker 1: were a lot of theories as to why he was 343 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,560 Speaker 1: having second thoughts. So one was that the overall economy 344 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:08,119 Speaker 1: was starting to have problems and that could potentially threaten 345 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:10,840 Speaker 1: the financing for the deal and cost Musk a lot 346 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:14,320 Speaker 1: more of his own wealth um and also his wealth 347 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:17,440 Speaker 1: was potentially going to take a hit anyway. Because as 348 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:22,679 Speaker 1: the stock market declines, well, chances are that the the 349 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:25,760 Speaker 1: stocks that Musk owns will be part of that, including 350 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:30,000 Speaker 1: stock and things like Tesla. That you know, it's usual 351 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:32,359 Speaker 1: that when you have an overall decline in the market, 352 00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:37,040 Speaker 1: the various companies will also be in decline. Uh. It's 353 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:40,200 Speaker 1: rare that you have like outliers that are doing really 354 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:44,720 Speaker 1: well despite the rest of the stock market. So maybe 355 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:47,479 Speaker 1: that was part of it. Also, potentially part of it 356 00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:52,399 Speaker 1: is that Twitter's revenue depends upon add money. Uh primarily, 357 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:55,360 Speaker 1: that's like the chief source of revenue for Twitter, and 358 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 1: as we know, during economic hardship, companies cut way back 359 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:03,000 Speaker 1: on things like advertising budgets, so Twitter would be directly 360 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 1: affected by that. Uh. There were also theories that perhaps 361 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:10,000 Speaker 1: some of Tesla's investors were getting worried that Musk was 362 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:13,879 Speaker 1: too distracted to handle things that needed to be handled 363 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:16,679 Speaker 1: at Tesla. That's a concern that would grow over the 364 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:21,320 Speaker 1: last half of this year anyway. Whatever the reason, Musk 365 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:23,639 Speaker 1: at the time claimed he was still committed to the deal, 366 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:26,560 Speaker 1: but he wanted to hold off on closing the deal 367 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,159 Speaker 1: until he got more definitive answers about the number of 368 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:33,800 Speaker 1: bots on the platform. On May, some Twitter shareholders would 369 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,119 Speaker 1: file a class action lawsuit against Musk, arguing that he 370 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: had engaged in stock manipulation and that his behavior was 371 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:45,800 Speaker 1: hurting Twitter investors. And in early June, Musk escalated things 372 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,760 Speaker 1: by saying he would pull out of the Twitter deal 373 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 1: if Twitter could not provide sufficient information about those gosh 374 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,479 Speaker 1: darned bots, and almost immediately after he announced his intention 375 00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:58,480 Speaker 1: to pull out of the deal, he tried to pull 376 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:01,800 Speaker 1: out of the deal. At this point, both sides were 377 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:05,800 Speaker 1: accusing each other of breaching the agreement in different ways. 378 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: Musk was saying that Twitter's failure to sufficiently prove that 379 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:14,840 Speaker 1: bots were not absolutely infesting the platform amounted to misrepresenting 380 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:17,760 Speaker 1: the company's value and that this would be one of 381 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:21,639 Speaker 1: the few nullifying terms in the agreement that would let 382 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:24,760 Speaker 1: Musk back out of it, and Twitter was saying, no, 383 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:29,160 Speaker 1: nothing we have done has invalidated anything, So you're beholden 384 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:33,040 Speaker 1: to seeing this acquisition through. Sorry, you don't want us anymore, 385 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:35,920 Speaker 1: but you have to take us because them's the rules. 386 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,879 Speaker 1: Then we sat on this for about a month. In July, 387 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:44,920 Speaker 1: Twitter sued Musk in Delaware in an effort to force 388 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,479 Speaker 1: him to go through with this acquisition. This was wild, 389 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:50,760 Speaker 1: right because you here you had this board of directors 390 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:56,000 Speaker 1: who initially resisted Elon Musk's move to acquire the company, 391 00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:59,359 Speaker 1: then they came around to agreeing to it. All of 392 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:01,760 Speaker 1: this was done for the shareholders ever had a chance 393 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:04,680 Speaker 1: to actually vote on the matter. By the way, now 394 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:07,200 Speaker 1: you get to a point where the board of directors 395 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:10,200 Speaker 1: is suing Elon Musk to force him to go through 396 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:13,240 Speaker 1: with a deal that originally the board of directors didn't 397 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:17,560 Speaker 1: want in the first place. It was crazy. So even 398 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:20,320 Speaker 1: if Musk were to successfully argue that he should be 399 00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:22,400 Speaker 1: released from the deal, he would be on the hook 400 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:26,760 Speaker 1: to pay a billion dollars just to walk away. Yea, Zoe, 401 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:30,320 Speaker 1: the steal is getting worse all the time, as Lando 402 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:34,600 Speaker 1: Calrosian would say. Now, both Twitter and Musk made arguments 403 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:38,080 Speaker 1: for when the trial to decide this matter should happen. 404 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:42,200 Speaker 1: Twitter obviously wanted it as early as possible. Musk's lawyers 405 00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:46,680 Speaker 1: wanted to delay the trial until the court would arrange 406 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:48,920 Speaker 1: a date in October, which was a little later than 407 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,200 Speaker 1: what Twitter wanted, but way earlier than what Musk's team wanted, 408 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:56,720 Speaker 1: and despite Musk's lawyers asking pretty please with sugar on top. 409 00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:00,359 Speaker 1: That date was etched in stone. Then we get some 410 00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:04,520 Speaker 1: more drama when a guy named Peter Zako, Twitter's former 411 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:08,000 Speaker 1: head of security, came forward with accusations that Twitter had 412 00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:13,040 Speaker 1: massive lapses and information security. Meanwhile, Twitter was like, dude, 413 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,960 Speaker 1: that was your job, That's why we fired you, or 414 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:20,480 Speaker 1: words to that effect. You should know. I'm massively paraphrasing 415 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:24,439 Speaker 1: for comedic purposes here. And while it seemed like this 416 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:26,520 Speaker 1: was gonna be a big deal, it never turned into 417 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:29,959 Speaker 1: the giant bombshell that folks initially thought it would be, 418 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:32,280 Speaker 1: and it really didn't have much of an effect on 419 00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:36,480 Speaker 1: the acquisition drama in general. Then we get up to October. 420 00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:40,320 Speaker 1: Despite multiple efforts to push off the court date, things 421 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:44,439 Speaker 1: stuck and then Musk suddenly announces on October four that 422 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:47,199 Speaker 1: you know what, I Am going to go through with 423 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:49,840 Speaker 1: this deal after all, and that it would be at 424 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:52,639 Speaker 1: the previously agreed upon price of fifty four dollars and 425 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:55,680 Speaker 1: twenty cents per share. Then there were a few more 426 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:57,960 Speaker 1: attempts to try and get that price knocked down a bit. 427 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:00,639 Speaker 1: This is the crazy thing about this as well, is 428 00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:05,520 Speaker 1: that there would be agreed upon terms and then like 429 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:08,280 Speaker 1: a day or two later, it was like Elon Musk 430 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:10,600 Speaker 1: woked up and said, why did I agree to No, 431 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:12,600 Speaker 1: let's see if we can get that knocked down a bit. 432 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:15,560 Speaker 1: It did not work. Musk had to go through with 433 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:19,280 Speaker 1: the whole process of resecuring financing, and ultimately the deal 434 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:22,879 Speaker 1: went through before the matter would actually go to chancery 435 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 1: court in Delaware. That was probably a good thing for 436 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 1: Musk because the general feeling in the text space was 437 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:33,000 Speaker 1: that he didn't have a legal leg to stand on 438 00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:34,639 Speaker 1: and he would have been forced to go through the 439 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:38,439 Speaker 1: deal anyway, so perhaps moving to acquire it ahead of 440 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:41,840 Speaker 1: a mandate would help him save face a little bit. 441 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 1: So the deal closed in late October. Musk arrived at 442 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:50,280 Speaker 1: Twitter's headquarters holding a sink. He was carrying a sink 443 00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 1: into Twitter HQ, and I guess he thought this was 444 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:56,399 Speaker 1: a brilliant piece of commentary, but most folks I know 445 00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:59,320 Speaker 1: just kind of rolled their eyes at it. And immediately 446 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 1: we started to see some massive changes. For one thing, 447 00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: Musk fired the top leadership at the company, so Paragua agrival. 448 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:11,160 Speaker 1: The CEO was sent packing, as were the chief financial officer, 449 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:15,080 Speaker 1: the chief legal officer, and the general counsel for Twitter. 450 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:18,720 Speaker 1: The board of directors was also dissolved. Not unusual. Actually, 451 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:21,359 Speaker 1: when a public company then goes private, this sort of 452 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:25,840 Speaker 1: thing does happen. Uh, the companies have different corporate structures 453 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:29,400 Speaker 1: if they're public versus private. So while some people, including 454 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:32,560 Speaker 1: myself immediately had a reaction of oh my gosh, it 455 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:35,639 Speaker 1: really wasn't that unusual, but this would just be the 456 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:39,040 Speaker 1: beginning of Twitter getting rid of leadership within the company, 457 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:41,120 Speaker 1: and over the next two months we would see massive 458 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:44,840 Speaker 1: departures that I imagine have really had a negative impact 459 00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:48,680 Speaker 1: on the knowledge held at Twitter at this point. Now 460 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:53,600 Speaker 1: early on, even this early on, some brands began to 461 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:58,560 Speaker 1: pause advertising spending on Twitter. A major concern was Musk's 462 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:01,720 Speaker 1: plans to unbanned very accounts that had been associated with 463 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:05,560 Speaker 1: different kinds of abuse and violations of Twitter's former policies, 464 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:08,520 Speaker 1: and a lot of companies aren't super keen on being 465 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:12,000 Speaker 1: associated with that kind of stuff, so, for example, General 466 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,040 Speaker 1: Motors chose to suspend ads on Twitter as early as 467 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:21,240 Speaker 1: octobery In early November, Twitter began to hold massive layoffs, 468 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:24,840 Speaker 1: essentially cutting the head count in half. So Twitter went 469 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:28,760 Speaker 1: from seven thousand, five hundred employees to somewhere around three thousand, 470 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:32,000 Speaker 1: seven hundred range. Among the cuts appeared to be the 471 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:36,200 Speaker 1: entire public relations team within Twitter. It was not the 472 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:39,560 Speaker 1: only department to be seriously depleted in the wake of layoffs, 473 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:43,120 Speaker 1: and we were just getting started. Must claim that the 474 00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:46,600 Speaker 1: layoffs were necessary as Twitter was losing quote over four 475 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:51,160 Speaker 1: million dollars a day end quote and all that financingment 476 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 1: that Twitter was also on the hook for paying off 477 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:58,120 Speaker 1: massive loan interest, like a billion dollars a year type stuff, 478 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:01,600 Speaker 1: and there were other problems as well. The economic downturn 479 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,280 Speaker 1: obviously meant that companies were starting to scale back on 480 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:08,280 Speaker 1: advertising budgets already anyway, and since Twitter gets most of 481 00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:11,000 Speaker 1: its revenue from advertising and only a small amount from 482 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:14,640 Speaker 1: stuff like subscription services, that was bad news and that 483 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:19,560 Speaker 1: would only get worse. Okay, before we dive into the 484 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:35,920 Speaker 1: even worse part, let's take another quick break. Okay, November eight, Man, 485 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:38,160 Speaker 1: it's hard to believe that that's like a month and 486 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:41,200 Speaker 1: a half ago, but November eight, Elon Must sold off 487 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:45,239 Speaker 1: more Tesla stock, nearly four billion dollars worth of it, 488 00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:48,160 Speaker 1: and that would mean that at that point, over the 489 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:51,800 Speaker 1: course of two Must would have sold off around thirty 490 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:56,280 Speaker 1: six billion dollars worth of Tesla stock. That is impossible 491 00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:59,040 Speaker 1: for me to imagine. It's way too much money for 492 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:03,000 Speaker 1: me to even get my mind wrapped around it. Moreover, 493 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:06,640 Speaker 1: it gave Tesla shareholders more reasons to be worried, because 494 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:09,000 Speaker 1: whenever a leader sells off some of their own stock, 495 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:12,800 Speaker 1: it sometimes sends a message to investors that maybe things 496 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:15,640 Speaker 1: are not going as well as they could be. So 497 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:18,640 Speaker 1: then we get to November nine, Twitter pushed out a 498 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:23,240 Speaker 1: new version of its subscription service, Twitter Blue. Now, this 499 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:25,320 Speaker 1: was one of those things that Elon Musk was really 500 00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:30,760 Speaker 1: hoping would help counter balance the issues with advertising revenue, 501 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:34,800 Speaker 1: that maybe Twitter could make more money with subscription services, 502 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:40,280 Speaker 1: and the service gives users access to features that your 503 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:44,320 Speaker 1: average Twitter user doesn't have access to, like an edit 504 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,239 Speaker 1: tweet option, which is something that Twitter users had been 505 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:51,040 Speaker 1: asking about for years. But this new version of Twitter 506 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:56,960 Speaker 1: Blue gave users something even more coveted, the legendary verification tick, 507 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:01,080 Speaker 1: the little check mark that serves as a sort of 508 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:05,800 Speaker 1: status symbol on Twitter. Now, to be clear, the original 509 00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:09,520 Speaker 1: intent for that check mark was to designate accounts as 510 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:12,640 Speaker 1: being legitimate, and it was meant for accounts that are 511 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:17,360 Speaker 1: claiming to represent notable figures or organizations. So the idea was, 512 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:20,240 Speaker 1: if you jump on Twitter and you see an account 513 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:24,400 Speaker 1: that's claiming to represent say Neil Gaiman, the author, and 514 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:26,720 Speaker 1: you see that there's a check mark next to that 515 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:30,560 Speaker 1: handle name, well then you know that Twitter had verified 516 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,880 Speaker 1: that account and that, in fact, is Neil Gaiman behind 517 00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:38,680 Speaker 1: that account, It's not just someone posing as the author. Likewise, 518 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:41,000 Speaker 1: if you jumped on Twitter you saw an account that 519 00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:44,120 Speaker 1: claimed to belong to a celebrity, but there was no 520 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:47,440 Speaker 1: check mark, you would know to be skeptical about that 521 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:51,720 Speaker 1: account really belonging to that particular celebrity. Uh. And you 522 00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:53,640 Speaker 1: know it was all sorts of notoriety that could get 523 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:55,680 Speaker 1: you a check mark. I had a check mark. I 524 00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:59,120 Speaker 1: still do have a check mark on Twitter. Um. But 525 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:01,680 Speaker 1: it's not like I'm super notable. It's just that I 526 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,800 Speaker 1: remember applying for that when I was hosting the Forward 527 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:08,360 Speaker 1: Thinking Video series, and that was a big series that 528 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:12,360 Speaker 1: was sponsored by Toyota. And as such, Twitter said, you 529 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:15,760 Speaker 1: know what, this, this amounts to enough for us to 530 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:18,800 Speaker 1: verify that you are in fact Jonathan Strickland, and they did, 531 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:22,280 Speaker 1: and I got the little check mark. But now Twitter 532 00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:26,040 Speaker 1: had check marks for sale at eight dollars a month 533 00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 1: a pop. And so, in a move that I think 534 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:34,080 Speaker 1: anyone besides Elon Musk could have predicted, people started creating 535 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:39,840 Speaker 1: spoof accounts claiming to represent celebrities, politicians, brands, and then 536 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:43,479 Speaker 1: they were paying to get that verification check. Then they 537 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:46,760 Speaker 1: started posting all sorts of nonsense and mischief. There were 538 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:51,360 Speaker 1: floods of impersonation accounts. Twitter then rolled out a quick fix, 539 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:54,960 Speaker 1: throwing out an official tag to designate the difference between 540 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:57,760 Speaker 1: a verified account and one that just had the little 541 00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:00,920 Speaker 1: check mark on it. But he here's an interesting fact 542 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:05,520 Speaker 1: that again I think everyone besides Elon Musk already knew. 543 00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:10,400 Speaker 1: If you give people the chance to impersonate others, complete 544 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:12,319 Speaker 1: with a check mark that makes them look like the 545 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:17,000 Speaker 1: real thing, and that Twitter has authorized this, well, then 546 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:19,560 Speaker 1: brands are suddenly going to be way less interested in 547 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:24,760 Speaker 1: advertising on your platform. I mean, if someone could pose 548 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:29,880 Speaker 1: as I don't know, Nintendo America and then post stuff 549 00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:33,680 Speaker 1: like a picture of Mario flipping off everybody, and they 550 00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:36,480 Speaker 1: have a little check mark next to their account name, 551 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:41,080 Speaker 1: that's likely to discourage the real Nintendo from spending money 552 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:45,440 Speaker 1: on that platform, So Musk's pushed to transform Twitter was 553 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:49,360 Speaker 1: really pushing it further away from being able to make money. 554 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:52,319 Speaker 1: At this point, the FTC announced that it was going 555 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:55,760 Speaker 1: to look into Twitter, with quote deep concern in the quote, 556 00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 1: suggesting that the US government was worried that maybe things 557 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:01,799 Speaker 1: weren't going so well all over there. I don't know 558 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:06,080 Speaker 1: what gave him that impression. Also, as this was going on, 559 00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:10,120 Speaker 1: Musk was communicating to Twitter employees in his first actual 560 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:13,440 Speaker 1: meetings with them, and in these meetings he cheerfully informed 561 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:16,160 Speaker 1: employees that they would need to start putting in eighty 562 00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:19,239 Speaker 1: hour work weeks. I mean, it's almost like if you 563 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:22,360 Speaker 1: cut half your staff, you double the work for everybody else. 564 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:26,319 Speaker 1: He also wanted everyone back in the office full time, 565 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:30,759 Speaker 1: which would reverse Twitter's remote work policy. Twitter had made 566 00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:33,719 Speaker 1: this remote work policy and even indicated that this was 567 00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:36,640 Speaker 1: going to be a permanent thing moving forward, back before 568 00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:39,360 Speaker 1: Musk took over the company. So this was a huge 569 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:43,000 Speaker 1: blow to employees. It was one of the removal of 570 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,400 Speaker 1: one of the big benefits that they had been enjoying, 571 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:49,800 Speaker 1: So that was ugly. Then word got out that several 572 00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:52,560 Speaker 1: more leaders at Twitter, including folks in charge of ensuring 573 00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:56,680 Speaker 1: user privacy and safety had resigned uh. In fact, the 574 00:35:56,760 --> 00:35:59,400 Speaker 1: head of trust and safety, a guy named Yoel Roth, 575 00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:03,000 Speaker 1: had one day earlier been part of an official Q 576 00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:06,480 Speaker 1: and A session within Twitter spaces, then the next day 577 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:10,719 Speaker 1: handed in his resignation and left the company. On November six, 578 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:15,040 Speaker 1: Musk appeared at a trial in Delaware Chancery Court. This 579 00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:17,799 Speaker 1: one had to do not with Twitter, but with his 580 00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:22,960 Speaker 1: compensation package at Tesla, valued at fifty five billion dollars. 581 00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:26,440 Speaker 1: During that trial, Musk claimed he didn't want to be 582 00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:30,200 Speaker 1: CEO of either Tesla or Twitter, and then his plan 583 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:33,600 Speaker 1: was to get Twitter to a stable place and then 584 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:38,040 Speaker 1: find a successor to serve as CEO. However, he has 585 00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:41,320 Speaker 1: said similar things about Tesla for quite some time now, 586 00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:45,080 Speaker 1: and has remained CEO of Tesla without there being much 587 00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:48,600 Speaker 1: evidence that he seriously considered any kind of succession plan. 588 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:53,279 Speaker 1: Also on November six, Musk sent out a message to 589 00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:56,480 Speaker 1: the remaining employees at Twitter telling them they needed to 590 00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:59,000 Speaker 1: kind of sign almost like a loyalty oath. They had 591 00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:01,920 Speaker 1: to sign a form that would say they were willing 592 00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:04,759 Speaker 1: to work even harder at the very best of their 593 00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:08,440 Speaker 1: ability and go into what he was calling hardcore mode 594 00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:12,520 Speaker 1: or otherwise. They needed to hand in their resignation and 595 00:37:12,520 --> 00:37:15,480 Speaker 1: then receive a severance package, and he tells them that 596 00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:17,920 Speaker 1: their response will be due by the end of the 597 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:21,719 Speaker 1: next day, and a whole bunch of folks a Twitter 598 00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:26,399 Speaker 1: chose to go the severance route. The reports were kind 599 00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:28,279 Speaker 1: of kind of conflicting at first. There were something that 600 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:31,279 Speaker 1: were saying it was, you know, dozens, some hundreds, some 601 00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:33,719 Speaker 1: as many as a thousand, and it's hard to get 602 00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:37,600 Speaker 1: an accurate headcount of Twitter staff at this point, perhaps 603 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:40,040 Speaker 1: because maybe the folks who would have had the best 604 00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:42,480 Speaker 1: idea of how many people were working for the company 605 00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:46,400 Speaker 1: have already left the company. Generally, the thought is that 606 00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:50,400 Speaker 1: Twitter is down to somewhere around two thousand, three hundred staff. 607 00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:53,520 Speaker 1: Remember they started out at seven thousand, five hundred. They 608 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:55,800 Speaker 1: might have fewer than that, or there might be more. 609 00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:58,879 Speaker 1: We just don't know. Apparently some of the people who 610 00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:01,320 Speaker 1: left were people who were in charge of really important 611 00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:06,440 Speaker 1: stuff like payroll, which is worrying. Musk had also fired 612 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:09,319 Speaker 1: more employees who had shown any sort of disagreement with him, 613 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:13,800 Speaker 1: including an engineer who contradicted Musk's explanation for how Twitter 614 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:17,640 Speaker 1: worked on a technical level, and the engineer said that 615 00:38:17,719 --> 00:38:21,480 Speaker 1: he was just explained that Musk's own explanation was incorrect, 616 00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:24,160 Speaker 1: and he got fired for his trouble. He wasn't the 617 00:38:24,200 --> 00:38:27,319 Speaker 1: only one. Several other Twitter employees who expressed concern about 618 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:31,520 Speaker 1: Musk's leadership or otherwise criticized him found themselves out of 619 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:36,279 Speaker 1: a job, and Twitter employees began frantically scrubbing slack messages 620 00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:40,799 Speaker 1: and emails of evidence that they had perhaps shown some 621 00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:47,600 Speaker 1: concern about Elon Musk's leadership. On November, Twitter's office in 622 00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:51,920 Speaker 1: Brussels closed. This is notable because that office was instrumental 623 00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:55,520 Speaker 1: in making sure Twitter was in compliance with EU regulations, 624 00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:59,319 Speaker 1: and so it's absence presents a danger that Twitter could 625 00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:03,080 Speaker 1: go astray with regard to e use rules and regulations, 626 00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:05,960 Speaker 1: and if that happens, then the company can start racking 627 00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:09,960 Speaker 1: up some serious fines as a result, which I don't 628 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:12,200 Speaker 1: know if you know this, the company can't really afford 629 00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:15,400 Speaker 1: right now. In fact, speaking of afford, other news stories 630 00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:19,320 Speaker 1: broke that Twitter stopped paying its rent on its office space, 631 00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:21,759 Speaker 1: you know, the same office space that Elon Musk was 632 00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:24,640 Speaker 1: requiring people to go back to, to the point where 633 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:28,319 Speaker 1: some folks had even had beds put in and their 634 00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:31,200 Speaker 1: office area so that they could catch some sleep there 635 00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:35,839 Speaker 1: while putting in those hardcore office hours. So yeah, there's 636 00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:38,520 Speaker 1: been a lot of bad stories coming out about, you know, 637 00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:45,480 Speaker 1: Twitter just kind of not paying vendors because that seems 638 00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:50,040 Speaker 1: like that's legit. There's also rumors that Twitter executives were 639 00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:54,640 Speaker 1: in conversations about not paying severance packages and that they 640 00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:57,480 Speaker 1: would just take on the legal fees that would come 641 00:39:57,680 --> 00:40:01,160 Speaker 1: as a result of lawsuits brought against the company rather 642 00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:05,160 Speaker 1: than paying out the severance packages if in fact they 643 00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:09,200 Speaker 1: determined that the legal fees would be lower. So yeah, 644 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:12,839 Speaker 1: kind of shady stuff. Also around this time, Musk had 645 00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:17,600 Speaker 1: a public tiff with Apple CEO Tim Cook. Musk even 646 00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:20,080 Speaker 1: took to Twitter to reveal that Apple had this super 647 00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:25,560 Speaker 1: secret iOS tax that app developers have to pay, and 648 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:29,440 Speaker 1: it's this one where Apple takes a percentage of every 649 00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:35,000 Speaker 1: transaction made within an app on iOS, something that no 650 00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:40,200 Speaker 1: one except you know, everybody knew about already. I mean, 651 00:40:40,239 --> 00:40:42,200 Speaker 1: if you've been listening to tech stuff, you know about 652 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:45,320 Speaker 1: this because I talk about it a lot. Apple's actually 653 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:48,120 Speaker 1: been in trouble for this policy around the world, including 654 00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:51,240 Speaker 1: here in the United States, but apparently it was news 655 00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:53,959 Speaker 1: to Elon Musk and he was very unhappy about it. 656 00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:56,920 Speaker 1: Musk and Cook were eventually able to patch things up, 657 00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:02,000 Speaker 1: and the tempest mostly remained within the teapot. Then we 658 00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:06,080 Speaker 1: got the so called Twitter files, which Musk treated as 659 00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:10,160 Speaker 1: though they would be true bombshells, and I guess in 660 00:41:10,239 --> 00:41:14,000 Speaker 1: some ways they were, because Busk shared some screenshots that 661 00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:18,640 Speaker 1: ended up revealing private email addresses for certain people, and 662 00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:22,320 Speaker 1: those certain people started getting things like death threats, so 663 00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:25,560 Speaker 1: it was a bombshell for those people in particular. The 664 00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:29,000 Speaker 1: revelations themselves ended up not being nearly as dramatic as 665 00:41:29,080 --> 00:41:33,200 Speaker 1: Musk had indicated. They were mostly just internal discussions within 666 00:41:33,239 --> 00:41:38,000 Speaker 1: Twitter on how to handle content moderation. He also seemed 667 00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:41,160 Speaker 1: at one point to be blaming the Biden administration for 668 00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:44,319 Speaker 1: decisions that were made in saying that, you know, the 669 00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:50,120 Speaker 1: government was trying to censor companies messaging in case you're 670 00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:54,560 Speaker 1: not aware, the Biden administration wasn't in power in twenty 671 00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:58,240 Speaker 1: that was during Trump's time in office, but yeah, whatever. 672 00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:03,399 Speaker 1: Then Twitter suspended its Content Moderation Council, which came after 673 00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:06,880 Speaker 1: several members of that council had resigned. They were complaining 674 00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:09,279 Speaker 1: that Musk and his team were not listening to the 675 00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:12,640 Speaker 1: council at all. They were putting Twitter the company in danger, 676 00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:16,320 Speaker 1: they were putting users in danger, they were endangering the 677 00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:20,480 Speaker 1: careers of all the employees. And the response from Twitter 678 00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:24,040 Speaker 1: was just to dissolve the council entirely, kind of like 679 00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:29,440 Speaker 1: how Emperor Palpatine ends up dissolving the Senate and the 680 00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:33,759 Speaker 1: prequels of the Star Wars movies. Anyway, then Musk sold 681 00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:37,760 Speaker 1: off some more shares of Tesla as Tesla's stock price 682 00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:41,920 Speaker 1: was in decline, so that brought up the total amount 683 00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:46,400 Speaker 1: of shares that he had sold this year too close 684 00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:49,880 Speaker 1: to forty billion dollars worth of Tesla stock. He also 685 00:42:49,960 --> 00:42:52,640 Speaker 1: lost the title of richest man in the world around 686 00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:54,920 Speaker 1: this time. I have a feeling he's still going to 687 00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:56,960 Speaker 1: be able to make ends meet, so don't worry too 688 00:42:57,040 --> 00:43:01,319 Speaker 1: much about him. On December six teenh just a few 689 00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:05,560 Speaker 1: days ago now, Twitter suspended the accounts of several journalists. 690 00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:10,680 Speaker 1: Musk was accusing these journalists of sharing his real time location, 691 00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:16,440 Speaker 1: which he called quote basically assassination coordinates end quote. Some 692 00:43:16,520 --> 00:43:20,000 Speaker 1: of them were involved in a Twitter spaces conversation. Not 693 00:43:20,120 --> 00:43:23,560 Speaker 1: all of them had actually reported on Musk's location at 694 00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:27,480 Speaker 1: any given time, but they got lumped in and were bumped. 695 00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:30,959 Speaker 1: And we're talking like big name journalists, folks who worked 696 00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:35,880 Speaker 1: for really important, uh news outlets. I was not bumped 697 00:43:35,880 --> 00:43:39,360 Speaker 1: off Twitter because I'm not important. But I know that already, 698 00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:42,239 Speaker 1: and I know you know that already. It's okay, I'm 699 00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:47,759 Speaker 1: cool with it. But pushing out the press rarely has 700 00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:50,799 Speaker 1: a positive outcome, and Musk became the center of both 701 00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:54,680 Speaker 1: criticism and ridicule for doing this. Uh. Some of those 702 00:43:54,680 --> 00:43:57,800 Speaker 1: decisions would be reversed fairly quickly. Some of them would 703 00:43:57,880 --> 00:44:01,000 Speaker 1: kind of stand. He also, upon tweeting that he was 704 00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:03,239 Speaker 1: at the World Cup, was called out for broadcasting his 705 00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:07,280 Speaker 1: own quote unquote assassination coordinates, but he didn't get banned 706 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:10,879 Speaker 1: from Twitter for doing it. Now we're almost at the end. 707 00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:16,320 Speaker 1: Musk then starts looking for some new investors, reportedly, and 708 00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:19,280 Speaker 1: he's looking to keep Twitter going and essentially was asking 709 00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:21,160 Speaker 1: for the same amount of money that he paid for 710 00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:23,680 Speaker 1: the company before, you know, before he made all these 711 00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:28,200 Speaker 1: changes that have drastically affected the value of the company negatively. 712 00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:32,440 Speaker 1: At this stage, some news outlets report that add revenue 713 00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:35,279 Speaker 1: at Twitter is down as much as ninety per cent. 714 00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:41,280 Speaker 1: Then Twitter launches a new policy that if you promote 715 00:44:41,520 --> 00:44:46,360 Speaker 1: other social media platforms, including ones like Mastodon, which folks 716 00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:50,279 Speaker 1: were starting to to navigate to to migrate to, those 717 00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:53,520 Speaker 1: tweets can be removed. They can be prevented, like if 718 00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:55,600 Speaker 1: you were to put in a link, you might get 719 00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:58,680 Speaker 1: a message saying the tweet you're trying to send violate 720 00:44:58,719 --> 00:45:01,600 Speaker 1: Twitter policies, so we're not going allow it. Some accounts 721 00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:05,520 Speaker 1: got banned for doing this kind of stuff. Twitter's official 722 00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:09,640 Speaker 1: account tweeted, quote, we recognize that many of our users 723 00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:13,560 Speaker 1: are active on other social media platforms. However, we will 724 00:45:13,600 --> 00:45:17,080 Speaker 1: no longer allow free promotion of certain social media platforms 725 00:45:17,120 --> 00:45:22,160 Speaker 1: on Twitter. End quote. Which, um, okay, I guess that 726 00:45:22,239 --> 00:45:27,200 Speaker 1: freedom of speech thing has real tight limitations. Again, I 727 00:45:27,239 --> 00:45:30,480 Speaker 1: said early on, Elon Musk was talking at the beginning 728 00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:32,600 Speaker 1: of this year like freedom of speech is a very 729 00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:36,200 Speaker 1: simple concept and it's very easy to do, and that 730 00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:38,920 Speaker 1: if he were in charge, it would be a different story. 731 00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:41,480 Speaker 1: And then he is in charge, and freedom of speech 732 00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:45,120 Speaker 1: has an even narrower definition now because anything that Elon 733 00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:48,720 Speaker 1: doesn't like is not free to be posted on Twitter, 734 00:45:49,360 --> 00:45:52,640 Speaker 1: so people immediately pull up an old tweet from Elon Musk, 735 00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:56,200 Speaker 1: where essentially he was saying that if a place has 736 00:45:56,239 --> 00:45:58,240 Speaker 1: to put up a wall to try and prevent people 737 00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:02,360 Speaker 1: from escaping, it a sign that it's the bad place, 738 00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:06,000 Speaker 1: because there's always a tweet, right, There's always a tweet 739 00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:11,239 Speaker 1: that will show that someone's actions are hypocritical compared to 740 00:46:11,280 --> 00:46:17,080 Speaker 1: what they had previously claimed to believe in. Then Musk 741 00:46:17,239 --> 00:46:21,160 Speaker 1: posts a poll on Twitter, again something he loves to do, 742 00:46:21,680 --> 00:46:24,840 Speaker 1: and he asks should I step down as head of Twitter? 743 00:46:25,520 --> 00:46:29,919 Speaker 1: More than fifty of the respondents voted yes, and must 744 00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:32,680 Speaker 1: kind of went quiet for a little bit, like he 745 00:46:32,719 --> 00:46:36,719 Speaker 1: didn't immediately address the results of that poll, which left 746 00:46:36,719 --> 00:46:39,279 Speaker 1: people wondering what was going on now. On the one hand, 747 00:46:39,360 --> 00:46:43,160 Speaker 1: Musk had already said in court that his intent was 748 00:46:43,200 --> 00:46:47,600 Speaker 1: to step down as Twitter CEO at some point. But 749 00:46:48,040 --> 00:46:49,960 Speaker 1: on the other hand, this had to be a big 750 00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:52,600 Speaker 1: blow to his ego. I'm sure he was expecting well, 751 00:46:52,719 --> 00:46:56,000 Speaker 1: not sure, but maybe he was expecting a huge number 752 00:46:56,040 --> 00:46:59,640 Speaker 1: to say yes, not no. Then one of his followers argued, 753 00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:02,879 Speaker 1: then maybe only the people who paid for Twitter Blue 754 00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:05,800 Speaker 1: subscriptions should be allowed to vote in such polls because 755 00:47:05,800 --> 00:47:09,240 Speaker 1: they have quote unquote skin in the game, and Ellen 756 00:47:09,800 --> 00:47:13,200 Speaker 1: apparently or seems to agree with that. He actually said, like, 757 00:47:13,440 --> 00:47:15,600 Speaker 1: that's that sounds good. Maybe we're going to change the 758 00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:19,040 Speaker 1: way polls work in the future, suggesting that maybe there 759 00:47:19,040 --> 00:47:20,600 Speaker 1: would be a big do over and he wouldn't pay 760 00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:23,920 Speaker 1: attention to it. But then more recently, Musk has said 761 00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:26,359 Speaker 1: he will step down as Twitter CEO as soon as 762 00:47:26,400 --> 00:47:31,799 Speaker 1: he finds someone quote unquote foolish enough to take over Twitter. Now, again, 763 00:47:31,880 --> 00:47:34,080 Speaker 1: that kind of wording does not raise much confidence. It 764 00:47:34,080 --> 00:47:37,040 Speaker 1: doesn't sound like Elon Musk is really trying that hard. 765 00:47:37,080 --> 00:47:41,439 Speaker 1: If he's essentially saying whomever takes over this company after 766 00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:44,359 Speaker 1: me is an idiot, that that's not a real big 767 00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:48,359 Speaker 1: selling feature. Right. Also, despite having earlier said that there 768 00:47:48,360 --> 00:47:51,000 Speaker 1: were no plans to hold further layoffs at the company, 769 00:47:51,400 --> 00:47:55,000 Speaker 1: last night Wednesday, so that would be December twenty one, 770 00:47:55,360 --> 00:47:58,760 Speaker 1: he held more layoffs at the company. Reportedly, the public 771 00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:03,440 Speaker 1: policy team is now gone. And again this is bad 772 00:48:03,480 --> 00:48:05,800 Speaker 1: because this is the team that helps make sure that 773 00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:09,440 Speaker 1: Twitter is in compliance with say regulations in the United States. 774 00:48:09,800 --> 00:48:12,560 Speaker 1: So now it sounds like various teams that are are 775 00:48:12,640 --> 00:48:17,520 Speaker 1: meant to keep Twitter in line so that it doesn't 776 00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:21,800 Speaker 1: face massive regulation and finds and things of that nature. 777 00:48:22,239 --> 00:48:25,760 Speaker 1: Those are all gone, so Twitters in a particularly vulnerable 778 00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:28,640 Speaker 1: spot right now. There are a lot of questions about 779 00:48:28,640 --> 00:48:31,160 Speaker 1: what will come next for Twitter. I am not going 780 00:48:31,200 --> 00:48:34,719 Speaker 1: to make any predictions because at this point, I just 781 00:48:34,840 --> 00:48:39,640 Speaker 1: don't know. It has been a chaotic year for Twitter. Uh. 782 00:48:39,880 --> 00:48:42,319 Speaker 1: I'm sure I will cover some more stuff in a 783 00:48:42,480 --> 00:48:46,080 Speaker 1: in a future episode about some of the other chaos 784 00:48:46,080 --> 00:48:50,279 Speaker 1: that's been going on, specifically like a tesla. But for now, 785 00:48:50,560 --> 00:48:54,000 Speaker 1: we're going to sign off because we're coming up on 786 00:48:54,040 --> 00:48:56,520 Speaker 1: fifty minutes and I don't want to go over that amount. 787 00:48:56,600 --> 00:49:00,359 Speaker 1: So I hope you are all well. We'll be back 788 00:49:00,800 --> 00:49:04,560 Speaker 1: next week after Monday, because Monday our office will be 789 00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:07,200 Speaker 1: taking a holiday, so I'll be running a rerun on Monday. 790 00:49:07,200 --> 00:49:10,160 Speaker 1: But after Monday, we'll have a few more episodes about 791 00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:15,319 Speaker 1: how twenty two unfolded, and then we'll look forward to 792 00:49:16,719 --> 00:49:18,600 Speaker 1: I hope you're all well. I hope you have a 793 00:49:18,719 --> 00:49:22,839 Speaker 1: wonderful holiday season, and I'll talk to you again really soon. 794 00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:31,200 Speaker 1: Tech Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more 795 00:49:31,239 --> 00:49:34,640 Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 796 00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:37,960 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.