Elon Musk talks about Twitter, Tesla, and ‘unresolved matters’ at the Qatar Economic Forum
The Tesla CEO also shared his two cents about the China and Twitter issue.
- Jun 21, 2022,
- Updated Jun 21, 2022 5:46 PM IST
In case you have forgotten that Elon Musk is supposed to buy over Twitter for $44 billion and that drama is not over yet, what the Tesla CEO said at the Quatar Economic Forum should serve as a reminder and recap.
Musk mentioned at the meet that there are still some “unresolved matters” with the Twitter deal that need to be sorted before the transaction can go ahead. For starters there is the issue regarding the bots on Twitter that Musk has dedicatedly been chasing. He has even sent Twitter a legal notice accusing the platform of ‘resisting and thwarting’ his right to information regarding fake accounts.
Additionally, Musk also said that “there is a question of, will the debt portion of the round come together and then will the shareholders vote in favour”.
Musk’s Twitter offer is currently on “temporary hold” since May 13 and is expected to be so till it is determined, at least to Musk’s satisfaction, whether fake users on Twitter make up less than 5 per cent of the microblogging platform’s entire userbase.
Musk’s Twitter plans have also raised concerns that the platform might be compromised by Beijing’s involvement. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has large investments in China which might be ‘jeopardised’ if Twitter offends the Communist Party. Twitter is banned in China, but the party has been using it widely to promote Beijing’s foreign policies globally, “often with incorrect or misleading information”.
However, it appears that Musk is not losing sleep over this. “Twitter does not operate in China. I think China does not interfere with the free speech in the U.S.,” Musk said
"China does not attempt to interfere with the free speech of the press in the US, as far as I’m aware,” he added indicating that he sees no issues with balancing his Tesla investments in that country and his plans to acquire Twitter.
Musk also spoke about the plans he has for Twitter while pointing out that there is a difference between freedom of speech and freedom of reach.
"Ideally I’d like to get like 80% of North America and half the world on Twitter, which means the service needs to be appealing to people. They can’t be harassed," Musk said.
He went on to that, in his opinion, the concept is that one can say whatever they want as long as it is not unlawful, but at the same time, Twitter is not ‘obligated’ to share it with a larger audience. Musk added that while he plans to focus on “driving the product”, he doesn’t necessarily have plans of becoming the Twitter CEO.
Last, but not the least, Musk spoke about the job cuts at Tesla. "Tesla is reducing salaried workforce roughly 10% over the next 3 months or so. We expect to grow our hourly workforce. We grew very fast on the salaried side, grew a little too fast in some areas,” he said.
"A year from now, I think our headcount will be higher both in salaried and hourly” workers, but for now the headcount reduction will be 3 per cent to 3.5 per cent,” Musk added while mentioning that supply constraints were the biggest brakes on Tesla’s growth and not competition from rival automakers.
Musk told Tesla executives earlier this month that he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy and warned that US might be headed towards a recession. And also said that he hasn't decided who he is going to support as president in the 2024 US elections.
Also Read: Former Telsa employees sue company over 'mass layoff'
Also Read: Elon Musk says Tesla will fire 10 per cent of workforce in next 3 months
For Unparalleled coverage of India's Businesses and Economy – Subscribe to Business Today Magazine
In case you have forgotten that Elon Musk is supposed to buy over Twitter for $44 billion and that drama is not over yet, what the Tesla CEO said at the Quatar Economic Forum should serve as a reminder and recap.
Musk mentioned at the meet that there are still some “unresolved matters” with the Twitter deal that need to be sorted before the transaction can go ahead. For starters there is the issue regarding the bots on Twitter that Musk has dedicatedly been chasing. He has even sent Twitter a legal notice accusing the platform of ‘resisting and thwarting’ his right to information regarding fake accounts.
Additionally, Musk also said that “there is a question of, will the debt portion of the round come together and then will the shareholders vote in favour”.
Musk’s Twitter offer is currently on “temporary hold” since May 13 and is expected to be so till it is determined, at least to Musk’s satisfaction, whether fake users on Twitter make up less than 5 per cent of the microblogging platform’s entire userbase.
Musk’s Twitter plans have also raised concerns that the platform might be compromised by Beijing’s involvement. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has large investments in China which might be ‘jeopardised’ if Twitter offends the Communist Party. Twitter is banned in China, but the party has been using it widely to promote Beijing’s foreign policies globally, “often with incorrect or misleading information”.
However, it appears that Musk is not losing sleep over this. “Twitter does not operate in China. I think China does not interfere with the free speech in the U.S.,” Musk said
"China does not attempt to interfere with the free speech of the press in the US, as far as I’m aware,” he added indicating that he sees no issues with balancing his Tesla investments in that country and his plans to acquire Twitter.
Musk also spoke about the plans he has for Twitter while pointing out that there is a difference between freedom of speech and freedom of reach.
"Ideally I’d like to get like 80% of North America and half the world on Twitter, which means the service needs to be appealing to people. They can’t be harassed," Musk said.
He went on to that, in his opinion, the concept is that one can say whatever they want as long as it is not unlawful, but at the same time, Twitter is not ‘obligated’ to share it with a larger audience. Musk added that while he plans to focus on “driving the product”, he doesn’t necessarily have plans of becoming the Twitter CEO.
Last, but not the least, Musk spoke about the job cuts at Tesla. "Tesla is reducing salaried workforce roughly 10% over the next 3 months or so. We expect to grow our hourly workforce. We grew very fast on the salaried side, grew a little too fast in some areas,” he said.
"A year from now, I think our headcount will be higher both in salaried and hourly” workers, but for now the headcount reduction will be 3 per cent to 3.5 per cent,” Musk added while mentioning that supply constraints were the biggest brakes on Tesla’s growth and not competition from rival automakers.
Musk told Tesla executives earlier this month that he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy and warned that US might be headed towards a recession. And also said that he hasn't decided who he is going to support as president in the 2024 US elections.
Also Read: Former Telsa employees sue company over 'mass layoff'
Also Read: Elon Musk says Tesla will fire 10 per cent of workforce in next 3 months
For Unparalleled coverage of India's Businesses and Economy – Subscribe to Business Today Magazine