Twitter, once started as an online communication channel for smaller groups is today the widely used social media networking platform. From just 50,000 users in 2007 to 390+ million users in 2022 has been a tremendous and amazing journey for Twitter.
Jack Dorsey, the founder held the top post for the highest period in the 16 years journey of Twitter. He was the CEO for 9 years otherwise he held the chairman post. Jack Dorsey gave up the role of CEO and went away from the company’s board in 2021. Indian origin Parag Agarwal took the helm in December 2021. Surely, he would’ve never expected life would be the same and take a sea of change in just 5 months into the office.
Right now, the Twitter company headquartered in the USA with a turnover of $5 billion or ₹37,500 crores is being sold to Elon Musk. The richest man on the planet has taken over the giant social media networking platform for a whopping $44 billion or ₹3.3 lakh crore. At the current rate of revenue earning capacity of Twitter, Elon Musk can turn his investments into profits in just 5-7 years. That too considering fundamental returns which are revenue.
But, it’s never about the money. It is never about the profits. Elon Musk has always stressed the word ‘Free Speech’. From ordinary Twitter users to celebrities have put out their extreme opinions. While most of them welcome this move, there is a good number of people who aren’t happy with the deal. The former CEO & Founder of Twitter himself is not happy with the deal. But he does seem to accept the reality and said he heartfully believes in Elon Musk. While what actually will be the outcome is for the time to tell, there are fears of free speech bringing in bigotry, too much negativity and a free hand for everyone to speak to anything.
Will free speech create more problems or help society? For sure all those banned and suspended accounts will be back in the business. That itself will create a buzz and increase a share of the revenue. But in the end, is it a move that’s ideologically driven? I personally think no. Elon Musk cannot think of creating a media channel with a weightage towards either right-wing or left-wing. Rather, the motto of this move is to bring in higher inclusivity and make things easy for people to communicate their opinions.
Having said that, it is to note that, Twitter is now Elon Musk’s Company. Every shareholder will lose their shares and this will all happen by end of this year. People may be given the option to buy shares, this is in the hands of Elon Musk. Now that also means, Twitter will be delisted very soon.
Finally, every rich man is bound to make mistakes. Elon Musk has been outstanding in his thoughts with regard to space travel and the brand Tesla. It’s not always going to work out that way. Will twitter increase his revenue or pull him down is something we need to carefully watch. So, a new era of social media networking is now begun. #twitter
