CPR
emptywheelOne of the most interesting Twitter revelations of the day -- more a confirmation than a revelation -- is that the $4B of TSLA Elmo sold the other day (down big since he bought Twitter) he sold to keep Twitter afloat. So effectively he has now paid $48B for a company worth less than $20B.
Viss@emptywheel did you ever play star control 2?
Dan Lewis@emptywheel As someone who used to work at Sesame Street, I really hate this nickname :)
@dandotlewis I didn't actually make it up.
@emptywheel I know! :)
Patrick McLaughlin@dandotlewis I’ve been using “Eloi” instead.
Mike D@dandotlewis @emptywheel I prefer Elno aka El No
Keith Ivey@dandotlewis @emptywheel It feels more appropriate if you're one of the people who believes Elmo destroyed Sesame Street.
Rant NinjaWell, as long as he can avoid a true mass exodus he's got time to turn it into a money machine.
John Brownlow@emptywheel it might have been worth $20bn when he bought it. It ain't now.
Brian Dear@emptywheel And, at the same time, Tesla (a company whose revenue, profits, global reach, you name it, are all growing massively and quickly) has seen its stock cut in half since early this year, kinda coincidentally just about when Lord Elon started talking about buying Twitter. You'd think it'd have been a way better investment for Lord Elon to just "HODL" as the wallstreetbets weenies at Reddit say. But that damn ego of Elon's always gets in the way.
Dudadius :: Bryan Rheude@emptywheel Can his folly with Twitter end up destroying Tesla? I got a Tesla back before I was aware of the depth of Elmo’s mental illness. The car is basically all software, would become a brick if the company were to tank, I fear.
B-Rex@emptywheel this just keeps getting funnier with every single update
Norman@emptywheel lol. He talked about bankruptcy not being out of the question which I'm sure it's new creditors really loved hearing
Alex Z | Writer@emptywheel
Among other things, business schools will teach this as a prime example of Sunk Cost Falacy
Also known as "throwing good money after bad"
Noah Callaway@emptywheel Has anyone calculated the total net worth hit he's taken buying and keeping Twitter afloat?
With how down Tesla is, he's had to lose *way* more than his share of the Twitter purchase price?
He's down bad. Very down.
David@emptywheel This is if he is telling the truth and not lying about what he did with the money. Given musk its 50/50 .
Mister Shade@emptywheel Apparently Elmo is also considering bankruptcy as a solution to the problem he himself created. Which as many of you business majors know is a totally normal route to go a handful of weeks after a $48’ish billion purchase 😀
VisVivaToTheMoon@emptywheel I find it quite funny that Elon is bragging about increased Twitter usage. Especially since most of the “trending” topics are in Chinese characters and posted uniquely by new accounts with virtually no followers.
DirectorX@emptywheel it just keeps getting better and better!
Sean McCabe@emptywheel
I'm okay with this.
I'm okay with this.
Corwin 
@emptywheel
Follow the money, but pls. don't inflate.
Payment of 44B was 26B from ElMo, ~2B old Red Sea shares, ~5B other investors, 13B leveraged onto Twitter for ~1B interest/y added. Unresearched how his previous shares (~10%,~4B) factor into this. Unclear if post buyout share deals were made. Estimate: 26-30B of ElMo money for 75-85% of Twitter, which had worth shrunk by 13B and ElMo antics.
How are the 4B used?
Additional credit or replacing part of the 13B?
DaveC@emptywheel I think the question has become how long / how much $ will Elmo spend to keep the lights on at Twitter. I haven't seen any indications that journalists or politicians are giving up on Twitter. My guess is both will stay on Twitter much longer than the masses or most high quality Tweeters. The 2nd Q is whether TFGs "big announcement" will be fresh juice for Twitter, or the kiss of death. Personally, I am on the fence on what I wish for between those 2 outcomes.