Elon Musk and Twitter Reach Deal for Sale (Update: WSJ report details Musk’s relationship with Putin) (1 Viewer)

[SaintForLife]

Elon Musk struck a deal on Monday to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion, in a victory by the world’s richest man to take over the influential social network frequented by world leaders, celebrities and cultural trendsetters.

Twitter agreed to sell itself to Mr. Musk for $54.20 a share, a 38 percent premium over the company’s share price this month before he revealed he was the firm’s single largest shareholder. It would be the largest deal to take a company private — something Mr. Musk has said he will do with Twitter — in at least two decades, according to data compiled by Dealogic.

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Mr. Musk said in a statement announcing the deal. “Twitter has tremendous potential — I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”

The deal, which has been unanimously approved by Twitter’s board, is expected to close this year, subject to a vote of Twitter shareholders and certain regulatory approvals.

The blockbuster agreement caps what had seemed an improbable attempt by the famously mercurial Mr. Musk, 50, to buy the social media company — and immediately raises questions about what he will do with the platform and how his actions will affect online speech globally.

Elon Musk and Twitter Reach Deal for Sale

Twitter agreed to be taken over at $54.20 a share, a 38 percent premium over the share price before it was revealed that Mr. Musk had been buying up the company’s stock.

www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org

If Musk does what he claims he wants to do it will be a big improvement and good for free speech.

 

[MT15]

I can’t see how this can fail to convince these advertisers, lol.

 

[MT15]

For what it’s worth
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Tesla lost at least one customer this weekend, after Alyssa Milano tweetedthat she had returned her model for a Volkswagen electric vehicle, prompting jokes from Elon Musk and conservative commentators about the German manufacturer’s Nazi origin story. Milano said she had ditched Tesla due to Musk’s ownership of Twitter.

While Tesla owners do not seem to be following the actor’s move en masse, some note that they have been on the receiving end of road rage directed toward their vehicle choice.

Although there’s no official data to prove that Tesla drivers get more hate, an Axios report from August found that Iowa’s “Tesla drivers are routinely heckled, cut off in traffic, and blocked from charging stations.”

Many put the blame on the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, and the never-ending news cycle devoted to his frenzied Twitter takeover. A July poll from the research analytics firm OpinionScience found that 54% of respondents viewed Musk “negatively” – and some Tesla drivers believe they are suffering the impact of his reputation.

Tesla drivers interviewed by the Guardian say they have experienced anti-Tesla sentiment, but mostly from those who hate electric vehicles rather than Musk specifically.

“Random rude drivers will swerve in my lane to yell at me, or turn on a heavy diesel exhaust that blows black smoke,” Paul Albertson, who lives in Beaverton, Oregon, told the Guardian. It never happens when he drives his two other cars, a vintage 1948 Chevy and a 2014 Traverse. The culprits are most often men driving “larger pick-up trucks”, he said………

‘Rude drivers will swerve in my lane’: are Tesla owners paying the price for Musk hate?

US owners say they’ve been on the receiving end of road rage, but it may be more about EVs than the CEO himself

www.theguardian.com

Yeah, large men driving large pickups aren’t objecting to Musk, but rather to EVs

 

[MT15]

Twitter has become all Musk, all the time. If that continues I probably won’t spend much time there any longer. It’s somewhat amusing to watch a bunch of folks cry about free speech who have zero idea what that actually means, but it’s very tiresome after a short time.

 

[bird]

That picture explains a lot.






Caffeine Free Coke is vile. Diet A&W (also caffeine free) is far superior.

I drink diet sodas and most don’t really taste that good. I tried one that has Stevia and it was mediocre at best. Diet Rite has Sucralose and doesn’t taste too bad. I think that the artificial sweeteners really aren’t good for you but that is just an opinion. As for Musk? In my meaningless layman’s opinion he has some real mental health issues.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Yay! Free speech! This could have gone in the covid thread too.
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Twitter will no longer enforce its policy against COVID-19 misinformation, raising concerns among public health experts and social media researchers that the change could have serious consequences if it discourages vaccination and other efforts to combat the still-spreading virus.

Eagle-eyed users spotted the change Monday night, noting that a one-sentence update had been made to Twitter’s online rules: “Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy.”

By Tuesday, some Twitter accounts were testing the new boundaries and celebrating the platform’s hands-off approach, which comes after Twitter was purchased by Elon Musk.

“This policy was used to silence people across the world who questioned the media narrative surrounding the virus and treatment options,” tweeted Dr. Simone Gold, a physician and leading purveyor of COVID-19 misinformation. “A win for free speech and medical freedom!”

Twitter’s decision to no longer remove false claims about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines disappointed public health officials, however, who said it could lead to more false claims about the virus, or the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.

“Bad news,” tweeted epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding, who urged people not to flee Twitter but to keep up the fight against bad information about the virus. “Stay folks — do NOT cede the town square to them!”……..

Twitter ends enforcement of COVID misinformation policy

Twitter will no longer enforce its policy against COVID-19 misinformation , raising concerns among public health experts and social media researchers that the change could have serious consequences if it discourages vaccination and other efforts to combat the still-spreading virus.

apnews.com

 

[MT15]

We might need a first amendment thread. DeSantis is an Ivy-League educated lawyer, IIRC:

 

[MT15]

TIL: Musk’s ex-wife is on Twitter. And occasionally trolls him. Here, however, she is calling out one of his lies. She confirms he is a narcissist on the level of DJT in a different tweet.

 

[MT15]

 

[MT15]

 

[Maxp]

Justine seems like a pretty sharp woman.

 

[MT15]

She is an author and a poet evidently. I had never even heard of her before now. I saw a screenshot of an absolutely spot-on, and heartbreaking description of how a narcissist manipulates people close to them. Without saying his name, she devastated Musk. I’m not sure where it was originally written.

 

[bird]

We might need a first amendment thread. DeSantis is an Ivy-League educated lawyer, IIRC:

Ivy League educated doesn’t mean that he isn’t an idiot.

 

[samiam5211]

Elon would have definitely bent the knee.

He does it for China any time they ask.

 

[SFIDC3]

Ivy League educated doesn’t mean that he isn’t an idiot.

He is not an idiot….far from it….but he is evil and very dangerous…..also a master manipulator….

 

[The moose]

He is not an idiot….far from it….but he is evil and very dangerous…..also a master manipulator….

Nope not an idiot but definitely a silly dude. Knowing he was selling to geeks he named his top dog car after Spaceballs jokes.

Really love mel Brooks not gonna name a car after Spaceball jokes.

Now if he would name the truck mongo that would be fun.

 

[bird]

He is not an idiot….far from it….but he is evil and very dangerous…..also a master manipulator….

Agree that he is dangerous. I use “idiot” in the sense that his actions are unhinged.

 

[MT15]

Ivy League educated doesn’t mean that he isn’t an idiot.

So we are learning. I used to think it was a cut above. Now my state school doesn’t look so bad, lol.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Ivy League educated doesn’t mean that he isn’t an idiot.

Stewart Rhodes got his law degree from Yale and manage to shoot his own eye out, a feat of stupidity only surpassed by being found guilty of seditious conspiracy.