If the Twitter board initially thought that Elon Musk’s offer to buy the social media company for 43 billion dollars was just a stuntman, now he is in a defensive position on several fronts.
After the world’s richest man revealed on Thursday how he intends to fund his takeover bid, Twitter executives are under pressure to sit down at the negotiating table with him or find alternatives as a candidate for the “white knight” to help them. came to the rescue as the company approached the point where they were.
For some, Musk’s candidacy has raised hopes that Twitter will be private to deal with his alleged failure to innovate and find new revenue streams, even if many do not see Musk as the man of the job. He also shed light on the checkered history of Twitter’s slow innovation, technical flaws and struggle for leadership.
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“Twitter has been developed to its full potential,” said a former board member. “God, yes, it has to be private. There is a world where I can imagine that the business is 10 to 100 times bigger. “
The board is “caught between the lack of value in Musk’s offer, but perhaps the lack of ability to realize more value on their own,” said a tech investor who has no Twitter position.
Twitter grew with a much slower video than its social media counterparts, including Facebook and LinkedIn, and was less profitable. In 2020, it caught the attention of an activist investor, Elliott Management, for fears that its co-founder and then CEO Jack Dorsey was too free and indecisive.
Analysts and advertisers criticize Dorsey for being a purist on Twitter, too focused on small changes to the core product, while failing to aggressively look for ways to increase ad delivery and diversify revenue beyond advertising in areas such as subscriptions.
“Here is a company that has such great potential and continues to squander it. You have almost an entire doctoral dissertation on missed opportunities, “said one CEO of an advertising agency, adding that Twitter has failed to take advantage of areas such as video in short formats, ratings and reviews and news.
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