𝐓𝐈𝐓Δ𝐍𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐍 

2005: Rupert Murdoch paid $580m for Myspace.
2009: he sold it in $35m.

2008: Bebo was sold for $850m, to AOL. The founders later bought it back for $1m. It was regarded as one of the worst deals ever made in the dot-com era.

2013: Yahoo paid $1.1bn for Tumblr. 2019: they sold it in $3m.

Elon Musk paid $44bn for Twitter. If history has taught us anything it's that this isn't going to end well… when there wasn't a viable business model in the first place.

#Mastodon #Twitter #TwitterMigration

Nov 19, 2022 at 9:27amWeb
Show threadAlexander Olofsson | AnanaceNov 19, 2022

@thetitanborn I've never understood the whole idea behind buying a popular service, only to instantly change a bunch of its functionality.

It's clearly already doing well as it is, otherwise you wouldn't have been willing to spend so much money on it.

Show threadJepyangNov 19, 2022

@ace @thetitanborn
In Musk’s case I can’t help but feel like he wasn’t looking at it in terms of business opportunity, but simply as a user daydreaming about “golly, things would be different if *I* ran things.” But, being a billionaire, he can indulge such whims of fancy (or at least can’t keep himself from making legally binding offers when such whims occur to him).

I also suspect he doesn’t recognize the difference between a whim and an actual business opportunity.

Show threadnico?Nov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn my thought when he proposed the purchase was that he took out investment insurance and further banked on short selling
Show threadChris YoungNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn
Smaller scale, but also:
2005: ITV paid £120m for Friends Reunited.
2009: ITV sold it for £25m
Show threadVerschlimmbessererNov 26, 2022
@confusedbunny @thetitanborn who lost the last £25m?
Show threadChris YoungNov 26, 2022
@Verschlimmbesserer @thetitanborn DC Thomson apparently
Show threaddxzdbNov 27, 2022
@confusedbunny @thetitanborn that's a lot higher percentage ~20.8 worth retained instead of
Show threadeyebrowsgerri will not complyNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn it was never about the money.
Show threadSteve Hunt 🇪🇺🔶 #RejoinEU #FBPENov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn social media free at the point of use has never had a viable long term business case. The idea that advertising will cover the vast running costs of serving an ever increasing number of users just does not work
Show threadNick CastleNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn on the subject of Twitter migration, is there a way to search for common accounts I follow across both platforms?
Show threadPhil RandalNov 19, 2022
@njcastle2012 @thetitanborn I use debirdify https://debirdify.pruvisto.org/
Debirdify

This is a web app that helps you find out which of the people you follow on Twitter are on Mastodon/in the Fediverse already and follow all of them easily.

Show threadRichardNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn If the ending is that Musk is scrambling to find the cash to personally repay billions loaned by bonesaw wielding Saudis, then it may actually end well after all.
Show threadNoel KellyNov 19, 2022
@richard_merren @thetitanborn
I wonder how much of that Middle Eastern money is actually Russian money.
Show threadKylo KenNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn Mark Cuban became an instant billionaire in 1999 when he sold Broadcast. com to Yahoo for $5B then a few years later they shut it down. Yahoo spent billions of dollars during the dot com bubble and now they are mostly irrelevant.
Show threadDoug BostromNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn Failure of degradation is ending well.
Show threadAndrei CurelaruNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn He can't ignore that. At some point we can then admit that it's not about "making money" but using money to shut down something ...disguised as "poor business planning".
Show threadMark LoundyNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn Don’t forget Yahoo’s purchases of Broadcast.com and of GeoCites for five and 3.7 billion respectively. Both were eventually written-off.
Show threadPhillip WardNov 20, 2022
@markloundy @thetitanborn I do miss Geocities. My homepage rivalled Homer Simpson's before he became Mr. X.
Show threadRob CorneliusNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn It its my fervent wish that "social media" in its current form just curls up and dies. Influencers, fake news, billionaires, all of it can just fuck off and die. Ideally die in a fire.
Show threadJames_PondNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn I think you are wrong. That site and it's remaining employees will have looked around the world's social media and made a business decision (the wrong one) to be able to automate 70% of the actions the staff were carrying out on a daily basis.
Show threadJames_PondNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn Bill Gates said in 2007 that is was time we started to tax robots carrying out manual work. For example these. https://youtu.be/VosNYbb4eA8 That Job would take 20 - 30 people per day. Now it's 4. So we are making lives easier while rinsing the poor. Same with code and architecture derived from it. Elon has seen an opportunity and is exploiting it. But has gone about it entirely the wrong way. At the detriment to people personal finance and wellbeing.
World's Fastest Modern Road Construction Machines - Amazing Extreme Asphalt Paving Machine

YouTube
Show threadJames_PondNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn The issue is Trickle down economics. We can make things better for everyone at a lower cost. But at the same time need to move us from the jobs we are doing onto new ones. Unfortunately Socialist capitalism can't exist in the same mouth. So here we are. Leaders who wishnto see things built in the country of residence and people in the developing world who are just as smart proffering their products as the equall alternative. I'm sure this was discussed at the G20.
Show threadJames_PondNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn neither one able to give an inch incase the other takes a yard. Same with script prices in the US. A fair world for all. Is the only way forward otherwise we will be stemming the tide of nations who don't have access to these things. And so the infighting continues. Share IP, Share common decency and ultimately look after each other the world over.
Show threadJames_PondNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn we are fucking people. https://youtu.be/48-geUgSF8g
Joe Strummer - Fantastic (Official Music Video)

YouTube
Show threadLaurie BrunoNov 19, 2022
@Popcorn @thetitanborn your absolutely correct about that!
Show threadJames_PondNov 19, 2022
@Lauriebruno @thetitanborn if I've been incorrect about something please shout out Not used to people agreeing. I normally sit behind the scenes talking to people about stuff.
Show threadPaulNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn And you run it like a spoiled toddler!
Show threadNotarobotNov 19, 2022
@[email protected] Yup, history and the market is not on his side. Add to that the self inflicted errors and stupidity and you get another order of magnitude.
Show threadArchieNov 19, 2022
@thetitanborn Yeah, but give credit to arrogance. The idea that you can fire half the staff without understanding what is going on, start making “obvious” sweeping changes without taking the time to consider why they haven’t been done yet. He’s pretty much hiring staff now, he would have had the same effect starting up his own service from scratch at a much cheaper price
Show threadRMS06510Nov 20, 2022
@thetitanborn so it looks like we need to raise about $50-100 million to get it back
Show threadWJJHNov 20, 2022

@thetitanborn In the real world companies get purchased, merged or divested daily and not all acquisitions fulfill their promisses and as a consequence fill for bankruptcy or get divested again and get rebuild.

Elon Musk broke the first two acquisition rules, he overpaid and his post-acquisition is already a failure.

Possibly in the future the same can happen to #Twitter, but today its early days and much seems to be based on emotions, schadenfreude and wishful thinking.

Show threadChookMother 🇦🇺🦘Nov 20, 2022

@thetitanborn

If history's taught us anything we should be able to buy it next week for $50 😂

Show threadBoutros CarringBushNov 20, 2022
@thetitanborn bodes well for Elon then 
Show threadDerek RobinsonNov 20, 2022
@thetitanborn There is also a rumour that it was bought to be destroyed as conservatives regarded it as a force for their opposition. Time will tell.
Show threadMark LevyNov 20, 2022
@derekianrobinson @thetitanborn that's exactly what I believe is happening it's all about control
Show threadJakob DahlNov 20, 2022
@thetitanborn This is the best theori yet I have seen on why he would waste $44bn on a thing like this
https://twitter.com/drskyskull/status/1593465921498144769?s=20&t=fhCTyOBZcnc63LU8gtwHpQ
skullsinthestars on Twitter

“So here's my hypothesis on the whole Musk twitter deal. 1/”

Twitter
Show threadAmanda HugankissNov 20, 2022
@thetitanborn My offer to Musk for the whole show is $2, payable by instalments.
Show threadThe Versian SystemNov 21, 2022
@thetitanborn It's one of those things that will happen, but that don't ever really make any money. From BBS's to Twitter.... people want to share their thoughts.
Show threadRyan Nov 21, 2022
@thetitanborn So just a matter of time before Jack buys it back for $20 mil or something like that.
Show threadSven BNov 21, 2022
@thetitanborn begs the question what the business model is for running a mastodon server.
Show threadFunnyBusinessNov 24, 2022

@thetitanborn

Elon could have taken a billion dollars of the $44 billion and used it to keep employees for many years. Instead he lets them go to worry about their future at the holidays. 🤬

I'm trying to figure out this platform. This is my first reply to a post. Great post. Thank you. 😎

Show threadBen LongdenNov 26, 2022
@thetitanborn @davidallengreen I'm saving up and offering 4m in three years. 🤘
Show threadnopeNov 26, 2022
@thetitanborn ... huh. when you rephrase "social media" as "system for wasting the rich's money"... suddenly it seems a lot better.
I still think taxation is better, but i'll take what i can get.
Show threadSam VekemansNov 26, 2022
@thetitanborn the fact that people actually used AOL - and paid for it, is simply mind googling.
Show threadJon StokesNov 26, 2022
@thetitanborn @davidallengreen I realise that it isn't social media, but when it comes to 'buying a pig in a poke',
Hewlett Packard's purchase of Autonomy shouldn't be overlooked.
Show threadRainer SchützNov 26, 2022
@thetitanborn Twitter might not have had a viable business model yet, but that just needed some finetuning, Twitter wasn't dying at all. Twitter was/is a vibrant forum with lots of high profile discussion and information. Musk is about to destroy the subtle balance that allows for this. I hope Mastodon can grow into Twitter's role. But they'll have to strike a better balance between local and global. Mastodon should keep it's decentralised backbone but show a more global face at the surface.
Show threadMarkus Feilner (has moved)Nov 26, 2022
@thetitanborn #musk did not by it for a business model. His target is creating a big world-wide platform for alt right and nazis and people like #peterthiel and KKK-leaders. hence the recent amnesty. The Guardian recently had a great article on that topic.
Show threadAshtonNov 26, 2022
@thetitanborn tumblr seems like the most clear parallel to me. New owner, clearly not understanding the user base of the platform they just bought for too much money, turns around and makes changes that drives off the core user base, resulting in a cratering valuation and eventual resale at low prices.
Show threadStatmonkey 🙊Nov 26, 2022
@thetitanborn Powerful stuff
Show threadAbstractCurvesNov 26, 2022

@thetitanborn I was at Google when they purchased Youtube ($1.65B in 2006), and I thought it was going to end poorly. It seems to have gone OK; so I don't think every acquisition ends poorly.

But bird site seems a disaster.

Show threadask330 🪨🦣Nov 26, 2022

@thetitanborn

whatever viable business model twitter had, musk has destroyed, that is what is so certifiably crazy about it.

Show threadinertiamanNov 26, 2022
@thetitanborn not sure if there are any transposible lessons here but I hope the prick takes a hard bath. What a waste of effort, talent and attachment.
Show threadEl Diablo RobocNov 26, 2022

@thetitanborn At 0.3% the original value, Musk will be lucky to get 150 million back.

Musk's actual goal is to get Trump back as POTUS and get access to all that sweet taxpayer money.

Show threadLDNov 26, 2022
@thetitanborn let’s hope so
Show threadLDNov 26, 2022
@thetitanborn although it may also be a plan to disrupt healthy political debate that falls out dodgy right wing behaviour. Mastodon will need to scale up massively to fill the gap.
Show threadxs4me2Nov 26, 2022
@thetitanborn Social media belong in the regulated public domain, not in the hands of private enterprise.
Show threadF. Andy Seidl Nov 26, 2022
@thetitanborn Elon is well-positioned to make history with the worst social media investment ever. I'm rootin' for him! ;-)
Show threadRyanAdairNov 27, 2022
@thetitanborn @davidallengreen This is a really interesting point!
Show threaddxzdbNov 27, 2022
@thetitanborn
Worth retention numbers:
MySpace 6.0%
Bebo 0.1%
Tumbler 0.3%
Average of these three is 2.1% ... so with this (optimistic?) number
Twitter would be worth 942m🤦🏻‍♂️
Show threadBrian VastagNov 27, 2022
@thetitanborn a small price to pay for budding authoritarians looking to destroy liberal & progressive social movements