12 minutes ago, W2DR said:

complete failure is on the horizon.

It's almost as if that is his plan.

Only Elon could take on such a failing giant of social media. It will be a miracle if Twitter survives now. 

Don't forget that Elon didn't "invent" Tesla, he bought it outright!

7 hours ago, n4gix said:

Don't forget that Elon didn't "invent" Tesla, he bought it outright!

 

Kind of. Musk invested in Tesla one year after it was born. 2003 I recall, when it was a nothing company. He converted it into one of the biggest car companies on the planet. The cars created now are vastly more advanced than the original roadster.

They didn't secure funding till 2006, after Musk became CEO. He was there right at the beginning. It was his endeavors that secured funding for the first car. He secured, I recall, 4 rounds of signifcant funding, late 2006, the first car was born.

Now the most valuable automotive brand on the planet.

 

Edited November 19, 20223 yr by martin-w

12 hours ago, dmwalker said:

It's almost as if that is his plan.

When his request was refused, to release data on bots and fake accounts, he tried to pull out of the deal. They wouldn't let him though.

 

"Elon Musk said Sunday that free staff lunches at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters cost over $400 per meal because ‘almost no one’ was in the office. 

The billionaire said that according to badge-in records, average occupancy in the office over the last 12 months was below 10%, peaking at 25%."

 

https://usaherald.com/elon-musk-says-free-staff-launches-at-twitter-cost-400-per-meal/

 

 

 

Edited November 19, 20223 yr by martin-w

12 hours ago, W2DR said:

I worked for over 30 years at what was, at the time, the largest company in the world. I've seen many "Elons". And they have all been losers. There is no way that Musk can treat the Twitter folks in the manner he has chosen. Unless he changes tactics (which I doubt he can) he has indeed put the torch to a $44 billion fiasco. Resizing a company is one thing, approaching it the way Musk has is another. I guarantee you, complete failure is on the horizon. The only question is when...not if.

 

Well, we shall see. He's certainly gone into a company with serious issues, like a bull in a China shop. We will see if the bull turns it around. Although he himself has said that Twitter bankruptcy is possible, so your prediction is possible and an obvious one.

Complete failure is always an option. Tesla was close to bankruptcy but is now the most valuable car company on the planet. SpaceX was one attempted launch away from bankruptcy but is now the biggest space company on the planet. 

So we shall see.

12 hours ago, W2DR said:

And they have all been losers. There is no way that Musk can treat the Twitter folks in the manner he has chosen.

 

Musk can't really be defined as a looser. His record speaks for itself.

I'm in two minds about the manner in which he's dealt with staff. Half of them have been made redundant, which seems extreme, but then if they are vastly over staffed, and the company is failing, I'm not sure what else you can do.

 

I'm not talking about Musk the businessman . I'm talking about Musk the man. You know, the guy who is judged by who is and not just by material possessions. So, I'll say again, IMNSHO opinion, Musk is a loser.

23 hours ago, W2DR said:

Resizing a company is one thing, approaching it the way Musk has is another. I guarantee you, complete failure is on the horizon. The only question is when...not if.

He certainly has succeeded in creating a true clown show!  Whether or not Twitter survives now is largely up to him, though.  Since he's shown that he has more money than brains, he could just out of sheer stubbornness continue to poor money into his debacle until it becomes what he wants.  Perhaps then his $44 billion "investment" will have consumed many tens of billions more... all of which might then deliver upon him an appropriate level of hubris (maybe, possibly😀).

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/elon-musk-nickname-twitter_n_637880fee4b0a97fec7cd681?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

Space Karen.....that's even better than his self-proclaimed Chief Twit.

15 hours ago, W2DR said:

I'm not talking about Musk the businessman . I'm talking about Musk the man. You know, the guy who is judged by who is and not just by material possessions. So, I'll say again, IMNSHO opinion, Musk is a loser.

 

Well I still haven't found any definition of the word loser that applies. But he's certainly an unpredictable and often frustrating character.

On the one hand he does utterly laudable things, like obsessively driving humanity toward a multiplanetary species, making the modern day requirement for access to space cheaper, cleaner, easier and with reusable technology. Taking more gas cars off the road with electric vehicles, providing grid scale and home batteries, solar roof tiles, solar panels, medical devices that look like they will make thousands of lives better. Making all Tesla patents open source and free to use to encourage innovation, demonstrating that to him its not about making more billions...

But then on the other hand he alienates a multitude and potentially breaks the law by not providing enough notice of large scale redundancies at Twitter. Aggravates the financial authorites with Tweets... and worst of all, has now done a pretty dumb poll on Twitter regarding allowing back a very nefarious, banned individual and allowed him back on as a result of that poll. Utterly bonkers stuff. I know Musk believes freedom of speech is paramount, but honestly, there are limits.

However... We do need him at this point in history. Need him in terms of what he's done and will do for renewable energy, and need him in terms of making space flight cheaper, cleaner and easier. We need access to space for numerous reasons. Some if which we are not allowed to discuss here.

I think its worth contemplating that he does suffer from Aspbergers Syndrome and that obviously has a bearing on his behaviour patterns. 

 

4 hours ago, martin-w said:

I think its worth contemplating that he does suffer from Aspbergers Syndrome and that obviously has a bearing on his behaviour patterns.

In my not so humble opinion, he is a "polymath idiot savant..." 🧐

Or, maybe, a Malignant narcissist .

Just to mention a court case starting in South Korea, involving the death of a close friend of the current president. The Tesla in which he was a passenger suddenly accelerated into a wall and the battery caught fire, resulting in rescuers being unable to open the doors so he was trapped inside.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-safety-centre-south-korean-trial-over-fiery-fatal-crash-2022-11-20/