WEBVTT - Elon Musks Gets on Twitter's Board 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:06.400 From the heart of where innovation, money and power Colli 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:11.800 in Silicon Vallet and beyond. This is Bloomberg Technology with 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:28.040 Emily Jay i'memerly check in San Francisco, and this is 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:32.000 Bloomberg Technology. Coming up in the next hour. The plot thickens. 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:34.920 Twitter adds Elon Musk to its board just a day 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:39.800 after must disclose he is now Twitter's largest shareholder. Turns 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:43.120 out former CEO Jack Dorsey and new CEO Paragua Wall 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:45.560 are in on it. What does it all mean for Twitter, 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:49.400 free speech, and the world's most public town square. We 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:52.880 will uncover this story from all angles through the hour, 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:55.400 plus what's it like to work on a board with 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:58.000 Elon Musk? Anyway. We'll be joined by former Tesla board 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:00.080 member Steve Wesley, who will share the good, the that, 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.280 and the unexpected that comes with having one of the 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:07.720 world's most controversial innovators in the room. And he has 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:10.640 fashioned himself as a free speech defender. But will must 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.640 be good or bad for free speech? Could this open 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:17.679 the door to former President Trump being unbanned from the platform? 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:22.000 Will debate, But first, Twitter share still soaring on all 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:26.640 of this, up another two percent after spike Monday bloom 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:28.319 works at Ludlow here to break it all down, and 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:30.600 we can debate the long term impacts of this, but 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.160 no question, it's been good for investors the last forty 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:35.840 eight hours. Yeah, exactly so, especially considering was a day 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:39.479 where equities broadly will lower, especially tex stalks as yields 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:42.080 to rising. That a lot of hawkish comments out of 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:44.560 the Fed, which weighed on technology shares, and yet Twitter 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.520 buck the trend right bam up another two percent, its 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:51.120 biggest two day gain in record above on record above, 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:54.160 And here's the reality of the situation. If you come 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:57.520 and me into my Bloomberg terminal, there's just a staggering 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:00.360 volume of Twitter shares that have exchange hand over the 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:03.280 last two days. I mean that chart, Emily says it all. 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:05.040 Look at the right hand side of the screen. Two 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:08.760 hundred sixteen million shares changing hands on Tuesday. That's after 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.880 more than two hundred fifty million chairs change hands on Monday. 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.240 Investors also taking a real interest on the retail side. 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:18.520 You look at many of the trading platforms like Fidelity 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:20.760 for example. We'll touch on this later in the show, 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:24.520 but a lot of demand for Twitter shares. His investors 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:26.200 try and work out, well, is this a good thing? 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:28.440 Elon Musk being on the board of the company. The 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:32.400 direction travel on the stock certainly suggests so final chart 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:34.079 is a little bit of irony and all of this. 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:37.239 This is year to day Twitter and Tesla, and before 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:40.280 the big surge, we've got a Monday around and other 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.440 two percent. On Tuesday, Twitter was down year Today it's 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:46.519 now very firmly in positive territory year to day and 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:49.680 as you can see, we're now outperforming Tesla on a 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:51.960 year to date basis, which is higher. It's up around 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:55.000 three percent. And it's interesting the direction of travel, the 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.880 Elon Musk effects that you have about these stocks and 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:00.519 how he uses Twitter is a met is and to 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:04.000 communicate with investors, well, I'm sure we're gonna be paying 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:07.000 a lot close attentions Twitter now and all right, blood law, 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:10.600 thank you now. And yet another plot twist, Twitter CEO 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:15.320 Parague Aggerawall announcing Elon Musk has joined Twitter's board and 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:18.239 Jack Dorsey, who set to leave the board in May, 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:21.280 says he's happy about it. Musk's Twitter ownership will be 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:24.200 capped at fourteen point nine percent as a board member 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:27.240 to avoid him having undue influence, though he's currently at 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:31.160 nine point two percent, which will give him plenty of influence. Enough, 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:34.600 let's discuss the moving more with Teconomy founder David Kirkpatrick, 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:39.480 along with Bloomberg's Max Chafkin. Max. Elon Musk has often 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:42.600 talked about his Tesla master plan. What do you think 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:44.600 his master plan is for Twitter and how does it 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.640 fit into Twitter's master plan for Twitter? Well, I think 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:51.760 that Elon Musk really likes Twitter. He's obviously an enthusiastic user, 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:54.760 and you can totally see why Twitter would want him 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.440 on the board. I think for Musk, um the master 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:00.520 plan is as you said about Tesla, and I think 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.400 what's what's happening here? Although I'm sure Ellen has some 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:06.480 really big ideas for for Twitter, you know, around free speech, 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:09.280 the I think the really the game behind this is 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:13.200 protecting Tesla's most important, you know, marketing channel, and you 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:15.720 know Ed mentioned it's Elon Musk's you know, sort of 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:18.200 way of communicating with investors, of of just sort of 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.599 raising enormous amounts of almost unlimited capital for Tesla. It's 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:24.400 also this great way that he's been able to market 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:26.920 you know, both himself and the cars. And I think, 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.640 you know, having a stake in that literally a seat 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:31.919 on Twitter's board um is going to help him in 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:34.919 the long term. You know, yesterday, Twitter's value, you know, 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:36.760 went up a bunch of eight hundred million dollars or 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:38.960 so would have been Musks gained. Tesla went up a 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:40.480 whole lot more, you know, a whole lot less as 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:42.680 a percentage. But but Musk made a lot more money 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:44.720 on Tesla. His money is still in Tesla, and I 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:46.640 think we should still be thinking about it in those 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:50.280 terms now. Looking at these tweets from Parague, Agawalla and 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.360 Jack Dorrisey today, Parague tweeting, I'm excited to share where 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:56.200 are pointing el on to our board? It became clear 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:58.919 to us through conversations in recent weeks that he would 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:04.120 bring great value to our board. Jack Dorsey then retweeting this, 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.400 and what you can imagine is a coordinated effort saying 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:09.880 I'm really happy Ellen is joining the board. He cares 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:13.240 deeply about our rule and Twitter's role in it. Parague 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.880 and Ellen both lead with their hearts and they will 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:20.120 be an incredible team. David, what do you make of 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:23.479 their wholehearted embrace of this. Well, first of all, we 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.200 know that Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk are good friends 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:28.719 and they've sort of think alike in a lot of ways, 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.800 although certainly Elon Musk is a much more impetuous person 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:36.359 than Jack Dorsey. But um, you know, you have to say, 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:40.000 having the richest man in the world, one who's every 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:45.200 move is attended to with such incredible attention, has got 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:48.200 to be good for any company. Uh, it's certainly been 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:50.560 good for Tesla. And I think that if he really 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:53.440 cares about Twitter, which he must, although this is something 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:57.720 we're really just learning that he cares about organizationally as 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.800 opposed to just being one of its greatest power users. Um, 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:06.480 he's gonna certainly bring tremendous value to their deliberations about strategy, 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:10.520 product design, etcetera. Now what kind of freedom do you 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:14.479 think Elon Musk feels he is lacking on Twitter, given 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:19.400 that he seems to have roamed there quite freely. Um, yeah, well, 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:21.800 I think there's some risk though to to Elon's a 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:24.680 Twitter presents. First of all, he's somebody who's continually pushing 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:28.480 the boundaries right and Twitter has been you know, aggressive 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:30.760 or not aggressive, but but has made some moves in 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:33.359 terms of trying to rein in um you know what 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:35.600 it terms misinformation or hate speech and and that sort 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:37.640 of thing. He's also in the middle middle of this 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.440 very messy fight with the SEC over tweets that he sent, 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:45.080 you know, years ago. Tesla has this Twitter sitter, and 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:48.400 right around the same time that Um Musk was acquiring 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:51.000 these Twitter skate stakes, there's a court filing that drops 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:53.760 where Musk is complaining about about his you know, being 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:55.960 muzzled as he saw it by the SEC. So I 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:57.880 could see it both, you know, as as partly as 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:00.080 a protective action. You know, this is a way for 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:04.440 him to ensure that this um stays put. Now, it'll 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:06.880 be interesting, David, how this impacts the rest of the 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:11.760 social media landscape. There was quite a moment um. Elon Musk, 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:15.040 in response to his question about an edit button, got 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:18.400 a lot of feedback, including from Andrew Bosworth, who's now 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:22.960 the CTO of Facebook, saying that they solved the question 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:25.160 of editing on Facebook long ago. You just leave a 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:29.360 log of the edit, Elon Musk responds, Facebook gives me 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:33.680 the Willie's What do you think? Having Elon in Twitter's corner, 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:37.440 or at least on Twitter's board means for Facebook, well, 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:40.400 I would reiterate that having him on your corner is 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:45.000 going to be bad for your rivals. Um period Um. 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.480 I would say, many of us find things that have 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.680 happened on Facebook give us the willies in recent years. 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:53.240 So I can understand why he would say that, and 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:55.680 I do think Twitter, on balance has been a more 0:07:55.720 --> 0:08:01.640 responsible platform than Facebook. Um. The confusing thing is his 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:05.640 repeated statements are several times saying, you know, he wants 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.880 free speech to be more allowed on Twitter, that he 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:13.480 thinks it's it's gonna be more that it's maybe too restrictive, 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:16.840 and it doesn't really make sense to me since he 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:20.600 has never been restricted by Twitter itself. He's been restricted 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:23.600 by the SEC, and I think he's had second thoughts 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.840 about some of his own tweets. But um, you know, 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:29.960 I don't I think it's bad for Facebook. I do 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:32.760 think maybe an edit function is a good idea for Twitter. 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:36.520 I personally have trouble using Twitter. I'm a I just 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.600 find it awkward and off putting in many ways. I'm 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:42.679 an outlier in the tech journalism community in that way. 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.920 But I can understand Twitter needs product improvements. Even Jack 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:48.319 Dorsey says that all the time and doesn't make any 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:53.360 bones about it. And yet Katie Stanton, longtime former Twitter veteran, 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:55.080 was on the show yesterday. She said, this is a 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:58.560 pretty expensive way to add an edit button if that's 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:02.440 what you want. Max. You know, as you point out, 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:06.199 Elon Musk like likes making jokes, but he's rarely doing 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:08.800 it just to joke. I mean, a steak is now 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:12.080 worth for billion dollars. You have to be more than 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:14.560 an edit button desire here, right right, And I think 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.880 that's why, you know, David's pointing out withstanding um, Twitter's 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.480 playing with fire here. I mean, Elon Musk is really 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:23.440 good at attracting attention. There's obviously we saw on that 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:26.640 chart there is a large community of investors who will 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:29.360 basically buy anything that he tells them to. And that's 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:31.840 really good. But if but if Twitter has a bad 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:36.080 quarter or you know, if Twitter loses its market value, 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:38.840 you know, that's disastrous for Twitter's management team. And that's 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:41.160 just like a blip on Elon Musk's radar. It doesn't 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:44.320 affect his long term visions or anything like that. So 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:47.040 the fear, I think would be, this is somebody who 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:49.959 has in the past had trouble raining himself in is 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:52.880 very impetuous, and now all of a sudden, Twitter, this 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:56.560 relatively small company, is attached to the Elon Musk train. 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:58.800 So so it's gonna it's gonna ride that way for 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:02.520 better and probably for So here's an open question, what 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:06.640 does this mean for former President Trump? David who has 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:11.199 been banned from Twitter. I've asked Twitter executives CFO net 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:13.840 Segal many times if there's a path for him to 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:16.720 come back, and he has said no. Could this Could 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:22.880 this open the door? David? Well, it's a very legitimate question, given, um, 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:27.439 given the point that Musk has made about free speech, 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:30.240 because the first thing you think of, if Twitter were 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:34.920 more lax in enforcing its speech rules, the implication, number 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:37.840 one implication would be that Trump might be allowed back on. 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:42.439 I don't think of Musk as a particular defender of Trump. 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:46.360 I think he's in a libertarian by inclination, although he 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:49.719 has a very complex mix of views. So I would say, 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:53.000 if anything is positive for the president x president. But um, 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:56.280 we can't know. There's so many things about this we 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:59.800 can't know. The speed with which it all happened is dizzy. 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.080 You know, it's it's I've just been thinking, what a 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:04.120 weird thing. The richest man in the world is so 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:07.440 incredibly impetuous. You never know what he's gonna do next. 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:10.720 It's like he's a professional global entertainer or something. So 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:13.679 all the implications are going to be found out only 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:18.559 through time. I'm afraid the plot has thickened indeed. David Kirkpatrick, 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:23.199 founder of Teconomy, and Bloomberg's own Max Chafkin, thank you both. 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:26.840 Coming up, we're gonna hear from a Republican Representative darryl 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:30.880 Isa his thoughts on what musk means. First, free speech 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:32.959 and what is it like working on a board with 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.680 Elon Must school ask a former TESLA board member that 0:11:36.840 --> 0:12:03.240 is next. This is Bloomberg. Well, lawmakers on both sides 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:05.360 of the aisle. I've had plenty to say about Twitter's 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:08.320 handling a free speech on its platform, and for different reasons. 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:12.440 Here's Republican Representative Darla Isa of California earlier with my 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:16.800 colleague David Weston. I've known Elon must for a long time, 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:20.360 and I watched him break a glass ceiling that kept 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:24.880 him from competing in rockets and missiles. Uh, and he 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:28.319 did so over a long period of time with his dedication. 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:32.960 He believes in sort of that free enterprise system, and 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:35.120 so I think he's going to be a positive for 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:38.080 a Twitter that has been airing on the side of 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.280 less free speech. Uh. You might remember taking down things 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:45.880 uh as misinformation that later proved to be true. I 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:48.360 think he's going to look at it as no, we're 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.079 We're going to be for free speech in a bigger way. 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:53.840 And I think that's positive for Twitter. It is positive 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:56.880 for all of us who would like to see um 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:01.480 social media be less about censoring and more about simply 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.840 being a conduit for people's ideas, whether we disagree with 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:07.280 them or not. So as I have been listening to 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:09.920 Congress over the last couple of years, I hear two concerns. 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:12.240 One is the one you just identified, and that is 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.280 Twitter's role in saying who can talk and who can't talk. 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:18.560 And I understand you're saying Elon Musk will make it freer, 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:21.720 he won't just prejuice in favor of his own point 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:23.880 of view, but also in terms of concentration, there's a 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:26.960 lot of concern about you have a trust responsibility as well. 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:29.360 Are you concerned at all about this the wealthiest man 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:34.120 in the world now having significant influence over Twitter. You know, 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:38.520 uh ten doesn't run a company, um and you know 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:43.280 there are two extreme anti oil people on Exog's board, 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:46.040 so uh you know. I think that it's the power 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:48.960 of his argument that's going to be more important than 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:51.280 in his actual vote, because he is going to be 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:55.640 outnumbered essentially nine to one. But there is something else 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:58.920 here at work, and that is that, yes, Twitter has 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:02.320 a monopoly on one section, Facebook has a monopoly on 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:06.720 another section. These giants we are concerned about, but remember 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:10.439 if they operate like your public utility, charging everyone the 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:14.000 same amount to buy electricity and not shutting anyone off 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.360 as long as the bill is paid, then the monopoly 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:19.960 is pretty benign. And I think that's one of the 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:23.520 concerns we have in Congress is not whether an entity 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:27.040 has monopolistic power, but how they use that power, whether 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:30.880 they have used it or simply have the luxury of 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:33.760 being the dominant force. That's been true in tech for 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:38.400 a long time. I remember when Microsoft basically owned your 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:41.120 ability to get on the Internet. That's not true today, 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:43.920 but it did take looking at and making sure they 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:47.080 were an honest broker in their tie ins uh some 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:52.280 years ago. Republican Darryl is Sa They're of California, who 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:56.000 himself has worked in tech and business. Well, how will 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:59.320 having Elon Musk in the board influence Twitter's handling a 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:02.640 free speech, misinformation and so much more. Let's get to 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:04.880 that question now with someone who worked on a board 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:08.000 with Elon Musk for many years. Steve Wesley is the 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.360 founder of the Wesley Group and was an early investor 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:13.760 in Tesla and a former Tesla board member. Steve, great 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:15.520 to have you back with us. So what is it 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:20.200 like serving on a board with Elon Musk? Well, it's 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:23.080 never boring. Look, I think this is a big win 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.800 for Twitter. He's brilliant, he sees the future. He's a driver. 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:30.920 Look for sure, he's a bit temperamental and irascible, but 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:34.120 he pushes people to be their best. He's also, of course, 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:36.680 twitter It's greatest power user. So I think it's a 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:40.400 good thing that he likes pushing boundaries. And my advice 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:43.600 to Twitter executives is put on your track shoes now, 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:45.720 because Elon is going to push you to pick up 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:47.800 the pace all at all. I think that's a good 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:51.119 thing for Twitter users and a good thing for Twitter investors. 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.600 Ellen is his own biggest marketer. I wonder how that 0:15:54.640 --> 0:16:00.880 could work to Twitter's advantage. Well, look, I think a 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:05.120 case can be made. Did Ellen's reinventing twenty one century marketing? 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:09.880 Just look what he did at Tesla. He had a 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.920 marketing budget close to zero. He took every penny he could, 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:15.520 even though we were a much smaller auto company, invested 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:19.680 in innovation, making greater products. In contrast, the world's major 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:24.240 auto companies GM for Toyota, spent billions it could have 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:27.920 been spending on R and D in tired commercial campaign, 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:30.720 super Bowl ads and so on. And you just have 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:34.280 to wonder how much further ahead would the major auto 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:37.440 companies be if they'd done what are elon dated Tesla. 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:39.640 So I think in a lot of ways he is 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:42.600 the perfect poster boy for what some might call twenty 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:46.840 century marketing, forming that direct relationship with your customer customer, 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:49.560 and he's doing it all on Twitter. What's a better 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:53.400 advertisement than Twitter for Twitter than that? Well, he's gonna 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:56.520 have a very direct relationship with Twitter's leadership and other 0:16:56.600 --> 0:17:01.160 board members. What do you imagine his relationship with Parague aggrawall, 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:06.639 the new CEO will be well, it's not gonna be quiet. 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:08.320 I think he's gonna push all of them. I mean, 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:10.960 here we are, day one into this and he's already saying, hey, 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.040 maybe it's time to to get that edit function in there. 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:16.360 I think he's gonna shake things. Uh. I think that's 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:18.080 part of the future. In the old days used to 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:20.960 say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The new 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:24.000 mantra of the twenty one century is from Steve Jobs. 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:27.639 If you're not busy obvious leading your own products, someone 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:29.440 else he is. And I think Ela is gonna come 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:31.320 in like he's gonna shake things up, and he's gonna 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:34.680 simultaneously make a statement two CEOs of the other five 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.679 fortune companies you need to form a direct relationship with 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:41.440 your customers. Twitter is probably the most cost effective way 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:44.240 to do it. Look, Elan is not a chrismatic guy, 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:48.560 slightly awkward. That he's genuine, he's real, he's authentic. I 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:51.600 think a lot of other CEOs how to be taking note. Now, 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:54.160 Elon Musk has used Twitter too, basically, as you say, 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:57.640 replace his own marketing department. And I wonder how an 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:01.199 investment in Twitter fits into the broader Musk portfolio. Do 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:03.080 you think there's some broader end game in terms of 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:07.439 how Twitter relates to Tesla and SpaceX and the boring 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:13.000 company hyper Loop for example. Well, look, Elon has a 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:15.119 big picture guy, and I think what he's simply saying 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:19.960 is I'm an innovator. I have transformed the American auto industry, 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:23.840 the global auto industry, have transformed prediction in space. This 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:27.439 old world marketing has got to go. CEOs of the 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:30.840 future needed direct relationship where they can tell the truth 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:34.080 in real time to their customers, not waged six months 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:36.919 for a lot of crazy ads. I think that's a 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:39.000 step forward, and I think he's going to become a 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:42.160 role model for a lot of other not just CEOs, 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.280 but politicians. And I think having that direct relationship with 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:48.040 the customer and the voter instead of the can adds 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:50.000 that so many of us are used to is probably 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:52.320 a net positive. But you're still going to have to 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:55.159 manage it. Well, we'll see how they do. What do 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:58.600 you think you a musk falls on Twitter's banning of 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:05.119 President Trump. So look, only Elon knows that, but a 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:07.000 lot of people said, oh my gosh, he's a free 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:09.880 market heater. Uh, he's gonna let Trump back on doing 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.560 he wants. I don't think that's the case. Elon has 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:15.600 higher standards. He holds people to a high standard. And look, 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:17.800 the reality is that I say this for all of 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:19.480 tech because someone who spent part of my life as 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:21.240 an elected official and part of my life as a 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:25.560 tech executive, Tech overall needs to hold a higher standard 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:29.119 for people telling the truth. They need to remove people 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:32.240 who are telling flat outlies, They need to remove people 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:35.960 who are inciting violence. So I believe and hope Kill 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:38.520 set a higher standard that firms like Facebook can follow. 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:41.840 On that note, though, I mean some would argue that 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:45.000 Elon Musk has peddled his own version of the truth, 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:47.760 for example the funding secured tweet, which got him in 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:54.119 trouble with the SEC when funding wasn't secured. Look, Elon 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:55.880 is always pushing the boundaries. So he will be one 0:19:55.920 --> 0:20:00.639 of nine board members, uh On bar or on on 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:02.760 the whole. I think he's going to push them to 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:06.680 innovate in terms of setting government policy, what the standards are. 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:08.639 I don't know if he'll be taking the lead on that. 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:10.680 It's more of an innovator, more of a tech guy, 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:13.800 but we'll see one thing. I can promise you it 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:18.879 won't be boring. It won't be boring indeed, Steve Wesley, 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:21.920 founder of the Wesley Group, former Tesla board member Steve 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:32.600 good to have you back with us. A few other 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:35.480 stories we continue to watch. Amazon is buying dozens of 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:38.040 rocket launches to deploy slate lights for its high speed 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:40.679 internet service. The company will buy as many as eighty 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:45.560 three launches from Aaron Space, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance. 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:48.600 Amazon's license with the FCC requires it to launch at 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:54.119 least half its thirty two hundred satellites by July. And 0:20:54.200 --> 0:20:58.160 Mackenzie Scott has transformed American philanthropy in the last three 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:01.440 years by giving away twelve point four billion dollars, often 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:05.119 to overlooked causes. She's now stepping up her donations outside 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:08.200 of the United States. Scott's latest giving spree three point 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:12.600 nine billion dollars, including about sixty nonprofits based outside the US. 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:17.960 These serving causes across five continents, from Micronesia to Brazil. 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:22.960 And I be am Banking on the lingering relevance of 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:26.520 mainframe computers at a time when many businesses are moving 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:28.879 to the cloud, the company has unveiled a new model 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:32.040 designed for corporate data centers. IBM has been marketing itself 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:34.399 as a key player to support data storage both on 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:39.000 premise and in the cloud. Coming up, we'll have more 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:41.560 on what Ela musk plans could be for Twitter and 0:21:41.720 --> 0:22:07.639 especially free speech. That's next, Mrs Bloomberg, Welcome back to 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:10.320 bloomber Technology and Emily Chang in San Francisco. Well, you've 0:22:10.359 --> 0:22:13.000 heard it from investors, to analysts, to Twitter's onn CEO 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:15.920 and former CEO. There are a lot of opinions out 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:19.440 there about what Elon Musk means for Twitter. Bloom Brooks 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:21.159 and Ludlow has been taking a look at the markets 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:23.760 view on it and d so far so good. Here 0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:27.240 is there any indication that this could be bad for investors? Yeah, 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:29.040 it's interesting. I mean the stock is held up for 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:31.800 two days, right, only a two percent gain on Tuesday, 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:33.800 but over the two days that's the biggest two day 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:37.840 jump in Twitter's history as a public company. And what's more, 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:40.360 you know, the broad range of analyst notes that came 0:22:40.400 --> 0:22:43.080 out in reaction to the news that Elon Musk had 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:45.680 been first taking a stake in Twitter, but then second 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:49.160 of all, been appointed as a board member were largely positive. 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:52.720