TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      New Openview channels coming as platform turns profitable

      27 May 2022

      Wapa’s Paul Colmer on why Icasa should open up 6GHz for Wi-Fi

      27 May 2022

      How Broadcom’s blockbuster VMware deal happened

      27 May 2022

      The cost for South Africa to quit its coal habit: R4-trillion – study

      26 May 2022

      Apple is feeling the smartphone industry chill

      26 May 2022
    • World

      Musk sued by Twitter investors for stock ‘manipulation’

      27 May 2022

      Broadcom agrees to buy VMware for $61-billion

      26 May 2022

      Musk pledges more equity to fund Twitter deal

      26 May 2022

      Sony looks beyond the console to PC and mobile gaming

      26 May 2022

      Andreessen Horowitz raises world’s largest crypto fund

      26 May 2022
    • In-depth

      Bernie Fanaroff – the scientist who put African astronomy on the map

      23 May 2022

      Chip giant ASML places big bets on a tiny future

      20 May 2022

      Elon Musk is becoming like Henry Ford – and that’s not a good thing

      17 May 2022

      Stablecoins wend wobbly way into the unknown

      17 May 2022

      The standard model of particle physics may be broken

      11 May 2022
    • Podcasts

      Spectrum auction opens up big growth opportunities – Ruckus Networks

      26 May 2022

      Everything PC S01E03 – ‘The story of Intel – part 1’

      25 May 2022

      The rewarding and lucrative careers to be had in infosec

      23 May 2022

      Dean Broadley on why product design at Yoco is an evolving art

      18 May 2022

      Everything PC S01E02 – ‘AMD: Ryzen from the dead – part 2’

      17 May 2022
    • Opinion

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022

      How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

      8 April 2022

      Cash is still king … but not for much longer

      31 March 2022

      Icasa on the role of TV white spaces and dynamic spectrum access

      31 March 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»In-depth»Musk’s board-seat tweet needed an edit button

    Musk’s board-seat tweet needed an edit button

    In-depth By Tim Culpan11 April 2022
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    Oops. Looks like Elon Musk isn’t joining Twitter’s board after all. Less than a week after CEO Parag Agrawal excitedly tweeted that the world’s richest man would get a seat, he’s now been forced to backpedal after saying Musk declined the offer.

    Musk was supposed to take up his post on Saturday, Agrawal wrote in a memo subsequently posted on Twitter, but instead “Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board. I believe this is for the best.” Musk later tweeted a single “hand on mouth” emoji, as if to imply a cheeky, “Haha, I misspoke,” before deleting the tweet.

    It says a lot about the relationship between Musk, Agrawal and the board — and the overall dysfunction therein — that we can go from him being a mere Twitter user, to largest shareholder, to board member, to non-board member in barely a week. But this also shows us that people make mistakes and can change their mind. Many Twitter users would love that same luxury — in the form of an edit button.

    His value to Twitter won’t be in raising the company’s share price but in boosting its revenue and earnings

    But all is not lost. The mere thought that Twitter’s most high-profile user would help run the company, and improve the product, got everyone talking. News just a day before that he’d amassed a 9.2% stake to become its largest shareholder drove the stock up 27%. Sure, there were numerous reasons for concern, including buying up shares while also having discussions about active involvement. With a board seat off the table, investors will be left speculating — and eagerly watching @elonmusk — for hints as to whether he’ll hold onto that stake, raise it or cut it.

    Also befuddling was the joy expressed by Agrawal and founder Jack Dorsey that Musk was joining the board after he’d bought a stake — when in fact they could have invited him anytime without waiting for the Tesla and SpaceX chief to purchase a US$2.8-billion ticket. I pondered this fact in a Tweet last week, to which Dorsey himself replied that this was something he’d wanted for a long time.

    Insider

    Yet, in quick succession, Musk shared some of his thoughts on what the company can and should do to boost engagement and revenue — better perks for paid users, stamp out crypto bots, and, of course, add an edit button. And that’s where Musk’s influence and intellect comes to bear.

    His value to Twitter won’t be in raising the company’s share price but in boosting its revenue and earnings. As Stratechery’s Ben Thompson noted, Musk made more money from his Twitter trade than the social network earned in the past three years. That’s not a tough feat: net income (and losses) come to just $159-million over the period.

    In truth, Musk’s clout comes from being the most powerful man on Twitter. And in the age of influencers and social media, throwing shade at the platform from outside may end up being more useful than becoming an insider and playing by the myriad corporate governance rules that would be applicable — we can only guess how compliant he might be.

    Of all the things Musk has said on Twitter this past week — and he can get very chatty — one Tweet stands out. He pointed out that the service’s most popular users — Barack Obama, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry — barely even tweet.

    So perhaps the first thing Agrawal and his board should do is to reach out to each of them and ask why, and find out what can be done to rectify the problem. In some respects, getting Musk on the board is preaching to the choir, but convincing the former president and two of the world’s biggest pop stars to use the platform just once a week would go a long way in proving that Twitter isn’t dying.

    And if Musk truly loves the platform, as he seems to, then he can lend his weight as an external ambassador, product consultant and professional polemic. He likely has the ear of every board member anyway, so he needn’t sit among them to be heard. Holding one share, or 73 million, or none, Musk is both a power user and a major influencer.

    The upside for Twitter, and the 217 million users not named Elon Musk, is that they won’t then need to act on his every whim and whimper. Perhaps the world’s famous tweeter won’t be a board member after all, but that doesn’t mean he’s going away.  — (c) 2022 Bloomberg LP

    Elon Musk Jack Dorsey Parag Agrawal Twitter
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleTap into the power of free learning with Digital Generation and HP LIFE
    Next Article W Cape in bid to resume construction of new Amazon HQ

    Related Posts

    New Openview channels coming as platform turns profitable

    27 May 2022

    Wapa’s Paul Colmer on why Icasa should open up 6GHz for Wi-Fi

    27 May 2022

    Musk sued by Twitter investors for stock ‘manipulation’

    27 May 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Financial advisers: manage your commission and analyse revenue effortlessly

    27 May 2022

    BT, MTN Business form strategic alliance in Africa

    26 May 2022

    Think like a start-up: how to build a competitive digital enterprise

    26 May 2022
    Opinion

    A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

    19 May 2022

    From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

    19 April 2022

    How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

    8 April 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.