Wallace and Truss top the latest CONHome ratings – politicalbetting.com

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Wallace and Truss top the latest CONHome ratings – politicalbetting.com

With just the possibility of a CON leadership contest being held in the next few weeks or months, ConHome has published its latest cabinet ranking based on the views of CON members who follow the site. Another new name near the top is Zahawi who I’ve got a small next leader bet at very long odds.

Read the full story here

Andy_JS

Reports that Elon Musk has bought Twitter.

FrancisUrquhart

Andy_JS said:

Reports that Elon Musk has bought Twitter.

5....4....3....2....1....gaggle of tw@tter employees outside the offices protesting that a "Nazi" * shouldn't be allowed to own the platform and threatening to quit if the deal goes through.

* in their opinion.

tlg86

Third from bottom like Everton.

Taz

tlg86 said:

Third from bottom like Everton.

Not only now but in six weeks time too

HYUFD

Wallace now looks the best bet to me if Boris goes

SeaShantyIrish2

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

FrancisUrquhart

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

LostPassword

HYUFD said:

Wallace now looks the best bet to me if Boris goes

I think Truss is much more likely than Wallace. She has the necessary chutzpah.

kle4

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

And he doesn't need publicity. Given his public persona shits and giggles doesn't seem beyond possibility as a motive.

kle4

HYUFD said:

Wallace now looks the best bet to me if Boris goes

Does he have staying power as a contender? I know he was well rated before recent events, but even now he seems very low profile to me.

FrancisUrquhart

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

rottenborough

Musk gets Twitter. God knows how he will run it and Space X and Tesla.

Trump back by end of year then?

kle4

That Rishi score, LOL. I don't even has a dislike of him, but there is a certain humour in seeing Icarus fall to earth.

Taz

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

Hopefully there are safe spaces for them.

Thoughts and prayers at this troubled time,

rottenborough

LostPassword said:

HYUFD said:

Wallace now looks the best bet to me if Boris goes

I think Truss is much more likely than Wallace. She has the necessary chutzpah.

Wallace is almost completely untested beyond his MoD role. Can he campaign etc etc?

SeaShantyIrish2

FrancisUrquhart said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

So what's Musk's views re: crypto?

kle4

rottenborough said:

Musk gets Twitter. God knows how he will run it and Space X and Tesla.

Trump back by end of year then?

Presumably other people must run things day to day at most of his companies. I don't care how much of a dynamic workaholic he is, there's only so many hours in the day.

At least until MuskTimeInc makes a breakthrough.

LostPassword

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

Elon Musk may also come to wonder what his motives were in a few months time.

It reminds me somewhat of George RR Martin being distracted from finishing his great work by all the other projects that he's evidently finding more exciting. Musk reportedly wants to create a self-sustaining colony on Mars, as a lifeboat for humanity, but he has time to spare to buy twitter? It's his choice how to spend his time and money, but it speaks of a lack of focus.

Maybe he'll later decide to buy spotify too.

Foxy

kle4 said:

That Rishi score, LOL. I don't even has a dislike of him, but there is a certain humour in seeing Icarus fall to earth.

The only negative one!

I am old enough to remember him as nailed on certainty at the top of the table.

FrancisUrquhart

rottenborough said:

Musk gets Twitter. God knows how he will run it and Space X and Tesla.

Trump back by end of year then?

Despite all the stories / myths, normally the whole point of growing a business like Tesla or SpaceX is that you can afford to employ high quality individuals to run everything for you. I wouldn't be surprised with SpaceX if he doesn't actually spend that much time day to day on it.

pm215

FrancisUrquhart said:

"A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported."

"Potential change in control/management of a company worries employees" is hardly news. Change and uncertainty are always sources of worry.

rottenborough

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

There was a piece in Telegraph a few days ago saying that buying twitter would end up being a disaster for Tesla.

Burgessian

LostPassword said:

HYUFD said:

Wallace now looks the best bet to me if Boris goes

I think Truss is much more likely than Wallace. She has the necessary chutzpah.

I think she may be out-chutzpahed by Penny M.

MrEd

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

Bless.

kjh

@Gardenwalker I was happily liking a number of your posts a few days ago (Friday I think) when you came out with what must be the most outrageous post I have ever seen here. You claimed to be the first to tip Wallace for PM on PB. I would also like to make that claim and as I am too incompetent to find both posts I feel I have no alternative but to challenge you to a duel to settle this dispute.

rottenborough

Can't say I'm too keen on a single individual owning such a massive piece of social media.

At least with a public company there are numerous voices and shareholders involved.

MrEd

FrancisUrquhart said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

Big issue though is that Twitter doesn’t have scale so it’s not must have for advertisers.

Now, he may be thinking that, with his name behind it, he can get users flocking in as they follow Elon.

But he has apparently said he wants less advertising.

LostPassword

rottenborough said:

LostPassword said:

HYUFD said:

Wallace now looks the best bet to me if Boris goes

I think Truss is much more likely than Wallace. She has the necessary chutzpah.

Wallace is almost completely untested beyond his MoD role. Can he campaign etc etc?

I suppose the one advantage of Johnson's opponents rallying around Wallace as next PM now would be to disarm the accusation that it was irresponsible to upset the apple cart during the Ukraine crisis. Making Wallace PM would at least ensure continuity in that regard.

Alistair

rottenborough said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

There was a piece in Telegraph a few days ago saying that buying twitter would end up being a disaster for Tesla.

Musk will have had to take out a decent chunk of loan against his (massively over valued) Tesla shares.

He's set himself up in a risky position.

Alistair

Covid Watch

Hospitalisations in South Africa have started rising.

I was wondering why they hadn't seen a second Omicron bump when we had had one.

FrancisUrquhart

MrEd said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

Big issue though is that Twitter doesn’t have scale so it’s not must have for advertisers.

Now, he may be thinking that, with his name behind it, he can get users flocking in as they follow Elon.

But he has apparently said he wants less advertising.

I said early, I honestly can't really figure the angle here. Am grasping at straws really. I don't buy the free speech absolutism angle, so there has to be something in there that he seems as terrible inefficient making it undervalued. The fact twitter doesn't have any idea about its users has long been touted in a world where user data is so value as a big issue with twitter and why the Facebook has made squillions.

dixiedean

The lonely future after Gromit dies.

FrancisUrquhart

Alistair said:

rottenborough said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

There was a piece in Telegraph a few days ago saying that buying twitter would end up being a disaster for Tesla.

Musk will have had to take out a decent chunk of loan against his (massively over valued) Tesla shares.

He's set himself up in a risky position.

Do we know if there are other investors?

turbotubbs

Alistair said:

Covid Watch

Hospitalisations in South Africa have started rising.

I was wondering why they hadn't seen a second Omicron bump when we had had one.

I believe they are seeing further omicron lineages right now (BA3 and BA4). I’m not sure if they have had BA2 in the way we have.

dixiedean

I seem to have a fulfilling life without ever using Twitter.

LostPassword

FrancisUrquhart said:

MrEd said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

Big issue though is that Twitter doesn’t have scale so it’s not must have for advertisers.

Now, he may be thinking that, with his name behind it, he can get users flocking in as they follow Elon.

But he has apparently said he wants less advertising.

I said early, I honestly can't really figure the angle here. Am grasping at straws really. I don't buy the free speech absolutism angle, so there has to be something in there that he seems as terrible inefficient making it undervalued. The fact twitter doesn't have any idea about its users has long been touted in a world where user data is so value as a big issue with twitter and why the Facebook has made squillions.

You don't think it's just a rich guy who has decided to buy something just because he can?

williamglenn

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He wanted to own the libs.

FF43

The Johnson cabinet is dire. Doing the thought experiment - if you were running a major enterprise who would you want on your senior leadership team? I think only two: Ben Wallace and Alok Sharma (who is right at the bottom of this list BTW). Maybe keep a couple more if they were already in place. You would get rid of the rest right away, starting with Johnson.

We agree Johnson needs to go. Who is going to replace him?

rottenborough

LostPassword said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

MrEd said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

Big issue though is that Twitter doesn’t have scale so it’s not must have for advertisers.

Now, he may be thinking that, with his name behind it, he can get users flocking in as they follow Elon.

But he has apparently said he wants less advertising.

I said early, I honestly can't really figure the angle here. Am grasping at straws really. I don't buy the free speech absolutism angle, so there has to be something in there that he seems as terrible inefficient making it undervalued. The fact twitter doesn't have any idea about its users has long been touted in a world where user data is so value as a big issue with twitter and why the Facebook has made squillions.

You don't think it's just a rich guy who has decided to buy something just because he can?

Not everyone is taking it well...


John Rentoul
@JohnRentoul

Twitter gone

FrancisUrquhart

LostPassword said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

MrEd said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

Big issue though is that Twitter doesn’t have scale so it’s not must have for advertisers.

Now, he may be thinking that, with his name behind it, he can get users flocking in as they follow Elon.

But he has apparently said he wants less advertising.

I said early, I honestly can't really figure the angle here. Am grasping at straws really. I don't buy the free speech absolutism angle, so there has to be something in there that he seems as terrible inefficient making it undervalued. The fact twitter doesn't have any idea about its users has long been touted in a world where user data is so value as a big issue with twitter and why the Facebook has made squillions.

You don't think it's just a rich guy who has decided to buy something just because he can?

Rich guys usually buy nice stuff like sports teams for a $1bn or 2.....unless he has convinced a lot of other investors, $45bn, he must be leveraging himself significantly to buy this and it is going to be real pain in the arse to reform it. That isn't the rich equivalent of buying a sports car, its an investment.

BigRich

Alistair said:

Covid Watch

Hospitalisations in South Africa have started rising.

I was wondering why they hadn't seen a second Omicron bump when we had had one.

SA, like the rest of the southern hemisphere is going it to 'winter' so I suspect this may be just the normal winter flu season.

Taz

rottenborough said:

LostPassword said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

MrEd said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

Big issue though is that Twitter doesn’t have scale so it’s not must have for advertisers.

Now, he may be thinking that, with his name behind it, he can get users flocking in as they follow Elon.

But he has apparently said he wants less advertising.

I said early, I honestly can't really figure the angle here. Am grasping at straws really. I don't buy the free speech absolutism angle, so there has to be something in there that he seems as terrible inefficient making it undervalued. The fact twitter doesn't have any idea about its users has long been touted in a world where user data is so value as a big issue with twitter and why the Facebook has made squillions.

You don't think it's just a rich guy who has decided to buy something just because he can?

Not everyone is taking it well...


John Rentoul
@JohnRentoul

Twitter gone

It was still there two minutes ago

SeaShantyIrish2

Speaking of social media platforms, a pointy-headed liberal friend of mine, has just been informed he's good to go on "Truth".

This after months of waiting on 45's waiting list. And for what? So far, nothing!

Alistair

FrancisUrquhart said:

Alistair said:

rottenborough said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

There was a piece in Telegraph a few days ago saying that buying twitter would end up being a disaster for Tesla.

Musk will have had to take out a decent chunk of loan against his (massively over valued) Tesla shares.

He's set himself up in a risky position.

Do we know if there are other investors?

Morgan Stanley are underwriting 13 billion in debt. So yes.

rottenborough

FrancisUrquhart said:

Alistair said:

rottenborough said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

There was a piece in Telegraph a few days ago saying that buying twitter would end up being a disaster for Tesla.

Musk will have had to take out a decent chunk of loan against his (massively over valued) Tesla shares.

He's set himself up in a risky position.

Do we know if there are other investors?

A load of banks have ponied up debt I believe.

Taz

williamglenn said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He wanted to own the libs.

$44BN to own the libs. Hope it’s worth it.

SeaShantyIrish2

Alistair said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Alistair said:

rottenborough said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

There was a piece in Telegraph a few days ago saying that buying twitter would end up being a disaster for Tesla.

Musk will have had to take out a decent chunk of loan against his (massively over valued) Tesla shares.

He's set himself up in a risky position.

Do we know if there are other investors?

Morgan Stanley are underwriting 13 billion in debt. So yes.

Same bunch that took billions in profits and pissed them down a rat hole, about a decade or so ago?

kle4

I say that the Cabinet should be reordered every month according to the latest Con Home survey, so you move up the ministerial ranking based on the result. That'd keep them on their toes and keen to perform.

Currently Defence rates above Health, which is above Business for example.

Whilst upset he is even in there at all, I am glad that Rees-Mogg is officially at the bottom of the Cabinet table.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministerial_ranking
https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers

kjh

kjh said:

@Gardenwalker I was happily liking a number of your posts a few days ago (Friday I think) when you came out with what must be the most outrageous post I have ever seen here. You claimed to be the first to tip Wallace for PM on PB. I would also like to make that claim and as I am too incompetent to find both posts I feel I have no alternative but to challenge you to a duel to settle this dispute.

I appreciate the choice of weapons is up to @Gardenwalker but can I suggest feather dusters.

rottenborough

Alistair said:

rottenborough said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

There was a piece in Telegraph a few days ago saying that buying twitter would end up being a disaster for Tesla.

Musk will have had to take out a decent chunk of loan against his (massively over valued) Tesla shares.

He's set himself up in a risky position.

iirc the Telegraph piece also pointed out that the controversy and hassle and constant regulator stuff will tie up Musk's time and take him away from cars.

SeaShantyIrish2

kjh said:

kjh said:

@Gardenwalker I was happily liking a number of your posts a few days ago (Friday I think) when you came out with what must be the most outrageous post I have ever seen here. You claimed to be the first to tip Wallace for PM on PB. I would also like to make that claim and as I am too incompetent to find both posts I feel I have no alternative but to challenge you to a duel to settle this dispute.

I appreciate the choice of weapons is up to @Gardenwalker but can I suggest feather dusters.

Made from recycled lottery tickets?

Taz

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

Alistair said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Alistair said:

rottenborough said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

There was a piece in Telegraph a few days ago saying that buying twitter would end up being a disaster for Tesla.

Musk will have had to take out a decent chunk of loan against his (massively over valued) Tesla shares.

He's set himself up in a risky position.

Do we know if there are other investors?

Morgan Stanley are underwriting 13 billion in debt. So yes.

Same bunch that took billions in profits and pissed them down a rat hole, about a decade or so ago?

One of the banks that privatised the profits and nationalised the debt ?

McDodge

Surprised nobody is questioning Wallace’s links to the defence industry.

He was Overseas Director at QinetiQ before his life in parliament…

rottenborough

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

Alistair said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Alistair said:

rottenborough said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

There was a piece in Telegraph a few days ago saying that buying twitter would end up being a disaster for Tesla.

Musk will have had to take out a decent chunk of loan against his (massively over valued) Tesla shares.

He's set himself up in a risky position.

Do we know if there are other investors?

Morgan Stanley are underwriting 13 billion in debt. So yes.

Same bunch that took billions in profits and pissed them down a rat hole, about a decade or so ago?

Does that narrow it down at all?

BlancheLivermore

Still sitting on an unmoved plane. They just told us that “the paperwork should be sorted in ten to fifteen minutes” which is really encouraging.. luckily I’ve made friends with the twenty year old girls sat next to me. I’m sharing headphones with the one closest, watching a John Wayne Gacy documentary, and the other one is charging her phone from my battery. If the plane does go, I won’t be off it until after midnight; was due in at five thirty.

kle4

Taz said:

williamglenn said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He wanted to own the libs.

$44BN to own the libs. Hope it’s worth it.

As recently as 2020 he was 'only' worth less than $40bn according to wiki. Not sure what the tipping point was which caused his wealth to shoot up 4x in a year.

EPG

rottenborough said:

Can't say I'm too keen on a single individual owning such a massive piece of social media.

At least with a public company there are numerous voices and shareholders involved.

The problem is so many media make no money compared to other businesses, and that includes Twitter. It seems few big media are now owned as public traded companies.

kle4

McDodge said:

Surprised nobody is questioning Wallace’s links to the defence industry.

He was Overseas Director at QinetiQ before his life in parliament…

Is that a concern?

FF43

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

At the end of the day Twitter is just a website. No-one needs to be there, it has no original content. The $40 billion is quite remarkable if you think about it. If Musk mucks it up, people will shift as they have done to several highly valued social media sites already. Or to put it another way, the fact users have stuck with Twitter suggests the current management has done a reasonably good job.

HYUFD

LostPassword said:

HYUFD said:

Wallace now looks the best bet to me if Boris goes

I think Truss is much more likely than Wallace. She has the necessary chutzpah.

Truss net rating with the public -7%, Wallace net rating +2% now. Wallace is the only Cabinet Minister with a higher net rating than Starmer's -1%. He could be John Major 2.

Johnson now on -24% and Sunak on -5%.

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Liz_Truss

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Ben_Wallace?content=all

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Boris_Johnson

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Rishi_Sunak

LostPassword

FrancisUrquhart said:

LostPassword said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

MrEd said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

Big issue though is that Twitter doesn’t have scale so it’s not must have for advertisers.

Now, he may be thinking that, with his name behind it, he can get users flocking in as they follow Elon.

But he has apparently said he wants less advertising.

I said early, I honestly can't really figure the angle here. Am grasping at straws really. I don't buy the free speech absolutism angle, so there has to be something in there that he seems as terrible inefficient making it undervalued. The fact twitter doesn't have any idea about its users has long been touted in a world where user data is so value as a big issue with twitter and why the Facebook has made squillions.

You don't think it's just a rich guy who has decided to buy something just because he can?

Rich guys usually buy nice stuff like sports teams for a $1bn or 2.....unless he has convinced a lot of other investors, $45bn, he must be leveraging himself significantly to buy this and it is going to be real pain in the arse to reform it. That isn't the rich equivalent of buying a sports car, its an investment.

It's about one-sixth of his estimated net worth. A lot of rich guys have poured more than a sixth of their fortune into a vanity project of one sort or another.

Elon Musk's vanity project is correspondingly larger only because his fortune is so much larger.

Foxy

dixiedean said:

The lonely future after Gromit dies.

Gromit was the brains of the pair as I recall. Not convinced that Wallace is more than another IDS. Bald and thick is not a winning formula. There simply aren't enough Blimpish voters to build a majority on.

SeaShantyIrish2

rottenborough said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

Alistair said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Alistair said:

rottenborough said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

There was a piece in Telegraph a few days ago saying that buying twitter would end up being a disaster for Tesla.

Musk will have had to take out a decent chunk of loan against his (massively over valued) Tesla shares.

He's set himself up in a risky position.

Do we know if there are other investors?

Morgan Stanley are underwriting 13 billion in debt. So yes.

Same bunch that took billions in profits and pissed them down a rat hole, about a decade or so ago?

Does that narrow it down at all?

Sorry, Morgan Stanley are NOT rathole pissers that my superannuated brain was groping for, I confused them with Chase Morgan.

Mea culpa to you, MS and (rest of) the rats!

rottenborough

dixiedean said:

I seem to have a fulfilling life without ever using Twitter.

Twitter user 1 reply: That can't be right

Twitter user 2 reply: Yes it can.

Twitter user 3 reply: There's no way. I know someone who died because he did not use twitter.

Twitter user 4 reply: That escalated quickly, you must be a nazi.

Twitter user 3 reply: F off Russian bot.

Twitter user 5 reply: Look at this gif of a rabbit knapping flint.

... and so on. All night.

rottenborough

What time is the Apple or Microsoft counter bid due?

tlg86

FF43 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

At the end of the day Twitter is just a website. No-one needs to be there, it has no original content. The $40 billion is quite remarkable if you think about it. If Musk mucks it up, people will shift as they have done to several highly valued social media sites already. Or to put it another way, the fact users have stuck with Twitter suggests the current management has done a reasonably good job.

It’s going to be fascinating to see what happens. We saw the twitter boycott by football clubs and journalists last year that happened on the weekend of the super league story. And a few journalists couldn’t resist breaking their own boycott to say something.

It’s possible that enough people leave it, but I’m inclined to think that it has too much inertia with so many companies and organisations having a presence.

Taz

kle4 said:

Taz said:

williamglenn said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He wanted to own the libs.

$44BN to own the libs. Hope it’s worth it.

As recently as 2020 he was 'only' worth less than $40bn according to wiki. Not sure what the tipping point was which caused his wealth to shoot up 4x in a year.

Probably the value of Tesla stock as it’s done pretty well since 2020.

SeaShantyIrish2

BlancheLivermore said:

Still sitting on an unmoved plane. They just told us that “the paperwork should be sorted in ten to fifteen minutes” which is really encouraging.. luckily I’ve made friends with the twenty year old girls sat next to me. I’m sharing headphones with the one closest, watching a John Wayne Gacy documentary, and the other one is charging her phone from my battery. If the plane does go, I won’t be off it until after midnight; was due in at five thirty.

Please be sure to take photo(s) of you in-flight snack tray (or feed bag).

kinabalu

FrancisUrquhart said:

MrEd said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

Big issue though is that Twitter doesn’t have scale so it’s not must have for advertisers.

Now, he may be thinking that, with his name behind it, he can get users flocking in as they follow Elon.

But he has apparently said he wants less advertising.

I said early, I honestly can't really figure the angle here. Am grasping at straws really. I don't buy the free speech absolutism angle, so there has to be something in there that he seems as terrible inefficient making it undervalued. The fact twitter doesn't have any idea about its users has long been touted in a world where user data is so value as a big issue with twitter and why the Facebook has made squillions.

I think just the 'now' equivalent of rich man wants to own a big newspaper. Citizen Musk.

FF43

FF43 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

At the end of the day Twitter is just a website. No-one needs to be there, it has no original content. The $40 billion is quite remarkable if you think about it. If Musk mucks it up, people will shift as they have done to several highly valued social media sites already. Or to put it another way, the fact users have stuck with Twitter suggests the current management has done a reasonably good job.

Thinking about it, maybe the greatest achievement of the previous owners was to get a squillionaire sucker to buy it off them for $40B.

MrEd

FrancisUrquhart said:

MrEd said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

Big issue though is that Twitter doesn’t have scale so it’s not must have for advertisers.

Now, he may be thinking that, with his name behind it, he can get users flocking in as they follow Elon.

But he has apparently said he wants less advertising.

I said early, I honestly can't really figure the angle here. Am grasping at straws really. I don't buy the free speech absolutism angle, so there has to be something in there that he seems as terrible inefficient making it undervalued. The fact twitter doesn't have any idea about its users has long been touted in a world where user data is so value as a big issue with twitter and why the Facebook has made squillions.

One slightly left field idea he may have is to get the users to pay to tweet. That may seem crazy but there are a lot of Twitter users - who are generally higher-income individuals - who have built up large followings on Twitter and who would be loathe to have their followers disappear (and who would be hard to shift across to another platform). In effect, it becomes like a much bigger Substack model with the Tweeters charging users to follow them.

Taz

tlg86 said:

FF43 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

At the end of the day Twitter is just a website. No-one needs to be there, it has no original content. The $40 billion is quite remarkable if you think about it. If Musk mucks it up, people will shift as they have done to several highly valued social media sites already. Or to put it another way, the fact users have stuck with Twitter suggests the current management has done a reasonably good job.

It’s going to be fascinating to see what happens. We saw the twitter boycott by football clubs and journalists last year that happened on the weekend of the super league story. And a few journalists couldn’t resist breaking their own boycott to say something.

It’s possible that enough people leave it, but I’m inclined to think that it has too much inertia with so many companies and organisations having a presence.

It’s unlikely to happen. Right wingers have threatened to decamp and go to Gab or Parler or GETTR. None of which has really established itself and the least said about Menshn the better.

rcs1000

FrancisUrquhart said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

That's going to be very embarrassing for some people's follower counts...

rottenborough

Musk bid is just another dead cat to distract from #Partygate right?

Daveyboy1961

FF43 said:

The Johnson cabinet is dire. Doing the thought experiment - if you were running a major enterprise who would you want on your senior leadership team? I think only two: Ben Wallace and Alok Sharma (who is right at the bottom of this list BTW). Maybe keep a couple more if they were already in place. You would get rid of the rest right away, starting with Johnson.

We agree Johnson needs to go. Who is going to replace him?

The no 10 cat.

Andy_JS

rcs1000 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

That's going to be very embarrassing for some people's follower counts...

Good. Look forward to it.

rcs1000

Alistair said:

rottenborough said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

There was a piece in Telegraph a few days ago saying that buying twitter would end up being a disaster for Tesla.

Musk will have had to take out a decent chunk of loan against his (massively over valued) Tesla shares.

He's set himself up in a risky position.

Are you saying that something follows hubris?

Andy_JS

rottenborough said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

Alistair said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Alistair said:

rottenborough said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

There was a piece in Telegraph a few days ago saying that buying twitter would end up being a disaster for Tesla.

Musk will have had to take out a decent chunk of loan against his (massively over valued) Tesla shares.

He's set himself up in a risky position.

Do we know if there are other investors?

Morgan Stanley are underwriting 13 billion in debt. So yes.

Same bunch that took billions in profits and pissed them down a rat hole, about a decade or so ago?

Does that narrow it down at all?

Which plane company?

FrancisUrquhart

rcs1000 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

That's going to be very embarrassing for some people's follower counts...

Genuine question. As the serial entrepreneur, what's your take on this? Is it Elon dick swinging I want to be a modern day media magnate or is there some clever investment angle here?

Northern_Al

HYUFD said:

LostPassword said:

HYUFD said:

Wallace now looks the best bet to me if Boris goes

I think Truss is much more likely than Wallace. She has the necessary chutzpah.

Truss net rating with the public -7%, Wallace net rating +2% now. Wallace is the only Cabinet Minister with a higher net rating than Starmer's -1%. He could be John Major 2.

Johnson now on -24% and Sunak on -5%.

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Liz_Truss

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Ben_Wallace?content=all

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Boris_Johnson

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Rishi_Sunak

Just looked at that helpful YouGov data. Only 37% have heard of Wallace. Of those 37%, 11% like him, 9% dislike him, and 17% are neutral. Hardly a ringing endorsement. Major was much better known, I think.

If your lot go for Wallace, there's a lot of recognition work to do. Which is why I suspect he won't make the running.

rcs1000

FrancisUrquhart said:

MrEd said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

Big issue though is that Twitter doesn’t have scale so it’s not must have for advertisers.

Now, he may be thinking that, with his name behind it, he can get users flocking in as they follow Elon.

But he has apparently said he wants less advertising.

I said early, I honestly can't really figure the angle here. Am grasping at straws really. I don't buy the free speech absolutism angle, so there has to be something in there that he seems as terrible inefficient making it undervalued. The fact twitter doesn't have any idea about its users has long been touted in a world where user data is so value as a big issue with twitter and why the Facebook has made squillions.

I think it's that he is -inevitably- starting to believe his own bullshit.

The very act of him owning Twitter will, he thinks, result in it performing better.

tlg86

Sky News reporter: “there are questions about how twitter can ensure that in private ownership it doesn’t become a toxic environment.”

Umm...

Alistair

Everyone will head back to Usenet and the cycle will be complete.

FrancisUrquhart

tlg86 said:

Sky News reporter: “there are questions about how twitter can ensure that in private ownership it doesn’t become a toxic environment.”

Umm...

Typical journalist living in their echo chamber.

MaxPB

FF43 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

At the end of the day Twitter is just a website. No-one needs to be there, it has no original content. The $40 billion is quite remarkable if you think about it. If Musk mucks it up, people will shift as they have done to several highly valued social media sites already. Or to put it another way, the fact users have stuck with Twitter suggests the current management has done a reasonably good job.

User inertia is too high. It's like all those people who said they would stop using WhatsApp if Facebook bought it, then the same people said it again when they merged the data, then the same people said it again when they introduced a new privacy policy. In the end everyone sticks around because it's where all their friends and family are. Twitter has the same level of user inertia, moving to another platform is simply too difficult and that's where the value is derived.

Additionally, in the famous words of Michael Jordan, "Republicans buy shoes too" - Twitter has cultivated a culture of overt leftism and excluded a huge and profitable market based on ideology of the board, there's a huge amount of value simply being left on the table. Unlocking that value is where Elon musk will make his money, and at $44bn he could monetise it in a way that Twitter is able to repay the full investment in less than a decade.

kle4

Taz said:

kle4 said:

Taz said:

williamglenn said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He wanted to own the libs.

$44BN to own the libs. Hope it’s worth it.

As recently as 2020 he was 'only' worth less than $40bn according to wiki. Not sure what the tipping point was which caused his wealth to shoot up 4x in a year.

Probably the value of Tesla stock as it’s done pretty well since 2020.

Yes, but what drove the sudden rise?

Endillion

My new favourite pair of incompatible views:

- The EU referendum should be rerun, because Russia used bots on social media to meddle with the process, thus affecting the result.
- Musk buying Twitter and forcing all users to authenticate, thus driving bots off the platform, is bad.

IshmaelZ

rcs1000 said:

Alistair said:

rottenborough said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

There was a piece in Telegraph a few days ago saying that buying twitter would end up being a disaster for Tesla.

Musk will have had to take out a decent chunk of loan against his (massively over valued) Tesla shares.

He's set himself up in a risky position.

Are you saying that something follows hubris?

And hubris follows something back, that's twitter in a nutshell

MaxPB

kle4 said:

Taz said:

kle4 said:

Taz said:

williamglenn said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He wanted to own the libs.

$44BN to own the libs. Hope it’s worth it.

As recently as 2020 he was 'only' worth less than $40bn according to wiki. Not sure what the tipping point was which caused his wealth to shoot up 4x in a year.

Probably the value of Tesla stock as it’s done pretty well since 2020.

Yes, but what drove the sudden rise?

$5bn operating profit last quarter and a dizzying growth rate. People don't buy EVs, they buy Teslas. Case in point, now that our move to Switzerland is close to being canned (praise be to whoever or whatever higher power convinced my wife) we've begun looking for a car, the Model X is at the top of the shopping list.

rottenborough

MaxPB said:

FF43 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

At the end of the day Twitter is just a website. No-one needs to be there, it has no original content. The $40 billion is quite remarkable if you think about it. If Musk mucks it up, people will shift as they have done to several highly valued social media sites already. Or to put it another way, the fact users have stuck with Twitter suggests the current management has done a reasonably good job.

User inertia is too high. It's like all those people who said they would stop using WhatsApp if Facebook bought it, then the same people said it again when they merged the data, then the same people said it again when they introduced a new privacy policy. In the end everyone sticks around because it's where all their friends and family are. Twitter has the same level of user inertia, moving to another platform is simply too difficult and that's where the value is derived.

Additionally, in the famous words of Michael Jordan, "Republicans buy shoes too" - Twitter has cultivated a culture of overt leftism and excluded a huge and profitable market based on ideology of the board, there's a huge amount of value simply being left on the table. Unlocking that value is where Elon musk will make his money, and at $44bn he could monetise it in a way that Twitter is able to repay the full investment in less than a decade.

If the moderation is too slackened then corporates will walk away because they don't want their ads next to some ranting neo-nazi from Alabama talking about buying more rope.

HYUFD

Northern_Al said:

HYUFD said:

LostPassword said:

HYUFD said:

Wallace now looks the best bet to me if Boris goes

I think Truss is much more likely than Wallace. She has the necessary chutzpah.

Truss net rating with the public -7%, Wallace net rating +2% now. Wallace is the only Cabinet Minister with a higher net rating than Starmer's -1%. He could be John Major 2.

Johnson now on -24% and Sunak on -5%.

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Liz_Truss

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Ben_Wallace?content=all

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Boris_Johnson

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Rishi_Sunak

Just looked at that helpful YouGov data. Only 37% have heard of Wallace. Of those 37%, 11% like him, 9% dislike him, and 17% are neutral. Hardly a ringing endorsement. Major was much better known, I think.

If your lot go for Wallace, there's a lot of recognition work to do. Which is why I suspect he won't make the running.

He has been a competent Defence Secretary and of those who have seen him and noticed him they tend to like him.

He is the anti Boris, not a celebrity, dull but decent and competent and law abiding. If Boris is forced out over partygate, Wallace is in my view the ideal successor

MaxPB

rottenborough said:

MaxPB said:

FF43 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

At the end of the day Twitter is just a website. No-one needs to be there, it has no original content. The $40 billion is quite remarkable if you think about it. If Musk mucks it up, people will shift as they have done to several highly valued social media sites already. Or to put it another way, the fact users have stuck with Twitter suggests the current management has done a reasonably good job.

User inertia is too high. It's like all those people who said they would stop using WhatsApp if Facebook bought it, then the same people said it again when they merged the data, then the same people said it again when they introduced a new privacy policy. In the end everyone sticks around because it's where all their friends and family are. Twitter has the same level of user inertia, moving to another platform is simply too difficult and that's where the value is derived.

Additionally, in the famous words of Michael Jordan, "Republicans buy shoes too" - Twitter has cultivated a culture of overt leftism and excluded a huge and profitable market based on ideology of the board, there's a huge amount of value simply being left on the table. Unlocking that value is where Elon musk will make his money, and at $44bn he could monetise it in a way that Twitter is able to repay the full investment in less than a decade.

If the moderation is too slackened then corporates will walk away because they don't want their ads next to some ranting neo-nazi from Alabama talking about buying more rope.

That's not how display advertising works, users see adverts most likely to get them to click. That Alabama rope buyer will see gun adverts, not tampon adverts.

Also Twitter is too big a platform to ignore. All of those brands which "abandoned" Facebook like PlayStation and Unilever are back. They make a big show of saying "look we're doing something" let a few weeks pass and quietly start buying up display space again.

Northern_Al

HYUFD said:

Northern_Al said:

HYUFD said:

LostPassword said:

HYUFD said:

Wallace now looks the best bet to me if Boris goes

I think Truss is much more likely than Wallace. She has the necessary chutzpah.

Truss net rating with the public -7%, Wallace net rating +2% now. Wallace is the only Cabinet Minister with a higher net rating than Starmer's -1%. He could be John Major 2.

Johnson now on -24% and Sunak on -5%.

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Liz_Truss

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Ben_Wallace?content=all

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Boris_Johnson

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Rishi_Sunak

Just looked at that helpful YouGov data. Only 37% have heard of Wallace. Of those 37%, 11% like him, 9% dislike him, and 17% are neutral. Hardly a ringing endorsement. Major was much better known, I think.

If your lot go for Wallace, there's a lot of recognition work to do. Which is why I suspect he won't make the running.

He has been a competent Defence Secretary and of those who have seen him and noticed him they tend to like him.

He is the anti Boris, not a celebrity, dull but decent and competent and law abiding. If Boris is forced out over partygate, Wallace is in my view the ideal successor

So, if you're right, at the next GE we could have an epic battle. Dull, decent, competent and law abiding vs. dull, decent, competent and law abiding.

rottenborough

FrancisUrquhart said:

rcs1000 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He has stated everybody will have to authenticate. One big problem twitter has always has, they don't know who their users are, and something that has always given Facebook a huge advantage in terms of making money.

Perhaps this is where he see the value prop.

That's going to be very embarrassing for some people's follower counts...

Genuine question. As the serial entrepreneur, what's your take on this? Is it Elon dick swinging I want to be a modern day media magnate or is there some clever investment angle here?

Musk may not know himself yet.

FrancisUrquhart

MaxPB said:

kle4 said:

Taz said:

kle4 said:

Taz said:

williamglenn said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

One wonders re: Elon Musk's motives re: the Twit-sphere? Pure altruism seems unlikely.

He wanted to own the libs.

$44BN to own the libs. Hope it’s worth it.

As recently as 2020 he was 'only' worth less than $40bn according to wiki. Not sure what the tipping point was which caused his wealth to shoot up 4x in a year.

Probably the value of Tesla stock as it’s done pretty well since 2020.

Yes, but what drove the sudden rise?

$5bn operating profit last quarter and a dizzying growth rate. People don't buy EVs, they buy Teslas. Case in point, now that our move to Switzerland is close to being canned (praise be to whoever or whatever higher power convinced my wife) we've begun looking for a car, the Model X is at the top of the shopping list.

You sure you don't want a Nissan Leaf instead ;-)

solarflare

Taz said:

tlg86 said:

FF43 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

At the end of the day Twitter is just a website. No-one needs to be there, it has no original content. The $40 billion is quite remarkable if you think about it. If Musk mucks it up, people will shift as they have done to several highly valued social media sites already. Or to put it another way, the fact users have stuck with Twitter suggests the current management has done a reasonably good job.

It’s going to be fascinating to see what happens. We saw the twitter boycott by football clubs and journalists last year that happened on the weekend of the super league story. And a few journalists couldn’t resist breaking their own boycott to say something.

It’s possible that enough people leave it, but I’m inclined to think that it has too much inertia with so many companies and organisations having a presence.

It’s unlikely to happen. Right wingers have threatened to decamp and go to Gab or Parler or GETTR. None of which has really established itself and the least said about Menshn the better.

Can we at least agree that social media companies have stupid names?

CorrectHorseBattery

Great numbers for Keir in Redfield today. Johnson is toast

FrancisUrquhart

solarflare said:

Taz said:

tlg86 said:

FF43 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

At the end of the day Twitter is just a website. No-one needs to be there, it has no original content. The $40 billion is quite remarkable if you think about it. If Musk mucks it up, people will shift as they have done to several highly valued social media sites already. Or to put it another way, the fact users have stuck with Twitter suggests the current management has done a reasonably good job.

It’s going to be fascinating to see what happens. We saw the twitter boycott by football clubs and journalists last year that happened on the weekend of the super league story. And a few journalists couldn’t resist breaking their own boycott to say something.

It’s possible that enough people leave it, but I’m inclined to think that it has too much inertia with so many companies and organisations having a presence.

It’s unlikely to happen. Right wingers have threatened to decamp and go to Gab or Parler or GETTR. None of which has really established itself and the least said about Menshn the better.

Can we at least agree that social media companies have stupid names?

Truth......Social....

Leon

rottenborough said:

MaxPB said:

FF43 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

At the end of the day Twitter is just a website. No-one needs to be there, it has no original content. The $40 billion is quite remarkable if you think about it. If Musk mucks it up, people will shift as they have done to several highly valued social media sites already. Or to put it another way, the fact users have stuck with Twitter suggests the current management has done a reasonably good job.

User inertia is too high. It's like all those people who said they would stop using WhatsApp if Facebook bought it, then the same people said it again when they merged the data, then the same people said it again when they introduced a new privacy policy. In the end everyone sticks around because it's where all their friends and family are. Twitter has the same level of user inertia, moving to another platform is simply too difficult and that's where the value is derived.

Additionally, in the famous words of Michael Jordan, "Republicans buy shoes too" - Twitter has cultivated a culture of overt leftism and excluded a huge and profitable market based on ideology of the board, there's a huge amount of value simply being left on the table. Unlocking that value is where Elon musk will make his money, and at $44bn he could monetise it in a way that Twitter is able to repay the full investment in less than a decade.

If the moderation is too slackened then corporates will walk away because they don't want their ads next to some ranting neo-nazi from Alabama talking about buying more rope.

A total misunderstanding of Twitter


Edit to add: and I am now right now parked in a random field in Alabama drinking Fat Tire Colorado amber ale with my Ozark multi tool thingy ($5 from Muscle Shoals Walmart) listening to gunfire and wishing I had a gun, so I know whereof I speak

Taz

solarflare said:

Taz said:

tlg86 said:

FF43 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

And so it starts...

A survey of 170 employees at Twitter from Blind found that they were worried about Musk acquiring Twitter, Fortune previously reported. A former female engineer at SpaceX alleged in a public essay that the culture was rife with sexism.

One employee, Edward Perez, a director of product management at Twitter, said in a Monday afternoon tweet that he and his coworkers are feeling "genuine discomfort and uncertainty."

https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/twitter-culture-could-change-elon-musk-takeover/

At the end of the day Twitter is just a website. No-one needs to be there, it has no original content. The $40 billion is quite remarkable if you think about it. If Musk mucks it up, people will shift as they have done to several highly valued social media sites already. Or to put it another way, the fact users have stuck with Twitter suggests the current management has done a reasonably good job.

It’s going to be fascinating to see what happens. We saw the twitter boycott by football clubs and journalists last year that happened on the weekend of the super league story. And a few journalists couldn’t resist breaking their own boycott to say something.

It’s possible that enough people leave it, but I’m inclined to think that it has too much inertia with so many companies and organisations having a presence.

It’s unlikely to happen. Right wingers have threatened to decamp and go to Gab or Parler or GETTR. None of which has really established itself and the least said about Menshn the better.

Can we at least agree that social media companies have stupid names?

Definitely.