SAN FRANCISCO – For weeks, Elon Musk has been sinking Twitter in public. On Thursday, he acted as if he finally owned the business.
In an hour-long question and answer session with the 8,000 Twitter employees, the first time Mr. Musk talks to them since he reached a $ 44 billion deal to buy the social media company in April, the richest man in the world opened its doors. about their plans for the service. In an effusive and sometimes rambling speech, he touched on growth, possible layoffs, issues such as anonymity, Chinese apps, and even the cosmic nature of Twitter.
“I want Twitter to contribute to a better and lasting civilization where we better understand the nature of reality,” Mr. Musk at the virtual meeting, which was broadcast live to Twitter employees and listened to by The New York Times. He added that he hoped the service could help humanity “better understand the nature of the universe as much as possible.”
The meeting, at which Mr. Musk participated from his cell phone in what looked like a hotel room, suggesting he was determined to close the highly successful deal. In recent weeks, his intentions towards Twitter have been in doubt. The billionaire, who also runs the electric car maker Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX, has repeatedly raised questions about fake Twitter accounts. This month, his lawyers said the company refused to give him information, an apparent pretext to try to end or renegotiate the acquisition.
Mr. Musk, who offered $ 54.20 per share to buy Twitter, may have changed his mind after global markets fell. Twitter shares are now trading at around $ 38. And the shares of Tesla, which are the main source of wealth for Mr. Musk, they have also plummeted.
In April, Mr. Musk had agreed to buy Twitter without any due diligence. He’s stuck with a $ 1 billion breakout rate if he leaves. Under the terms of the agreement, Twitter also has the right to sue it to force the completion of the acquisition, if its debt financing for the purchase remains intact.
Twitter has insisted that the deal is on track and that it has been sharing information with Mr. Musk.
In his statements on Thursday, Mr. Musk did not directly address whether to close the deal with Twitter. But he said he had big plans for the service.
In the conversation, which was moderated by Twitter marketing director Leslie Berland, Mr. Musk said he hoped the service would grow to be used by more than a billion people worldwide. That would be almost four times the number of people currently using Twitter. He added that he was very practical at Tesla and that he was expected to be on Twitter, and that he would be especially involved in the functions of the social networking service.
“I hope they hear me in that regard,” Mr. Musk.
Mr. Musk responded to questions from Twitter employees on Slack’s internal messaging system last week.
Some of the questions were about workplace culture, including distance work. This month, Mr. Musk sent notes to Tesla and SpaceX workers, saying he expected them to be in the office 40 hours a week. Twitter employees have been working remotely primarily during the coronavirus pandemic.
At the meeting, Mr. Musk said it was open to Twitter employees working remotely, as software development was different from showing up daily to build cars. But he noted that a widespread lack of involvement in the office could contribute to a decrease in “body spirit” and said he hoped people would be willing to enter the office more in the future.
Mr. Musk dodged answering directly whether there would be layoffs on Twitter under his control, though his response was disastrous.
“Right now, costs outweigh revenue,” he said. “This is not a big situation.”
Mr. Musk, a longtime Twitter user with more than 98 million followers, has long said he believes the company’s potential is underused. He added that he hopes to rejuvenate the service out of the public eye by taking the private company and making significant changes to the way Twitter works.
Within Twitter, some employees have had conflicting feelings about Mr. Musk. Some have said they are concerned about their Twitter habits and murky politics, and are concerned about how they have said they would rather take a laissez-faire approach to control the platform. This has raised questions, given the years Twitter has spent building its policy department.
Others point to the reputation of Mr. Musk as an innovator. After previous Twitter executives were established but failed to achieve high financial and user performance goals, some employees have said that Mr. Musk could revitalize the company.