1/ Has @elonmusk purchase of Twitter been the “unmitigated...
Graham Allison@GrahamTAllison
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Apr 13, 2025
~2 min read
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1/ Has @elonmusk purchase of Twitter been the “unmitigated disaster” that the @nytimes declared it would be after Elon paid $44 billion for the leading social media platform?
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2/ As the New York Times analysis explained two months later, it was “obvious” that “to most people outside Silicon Valley, Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter has been an unmitigated disaster.” nytimes.com/2022/12/16/tec…
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3/ In its next “final judgment,” the New York Times declared “Twitter is done.” (April 2023). nytimes.com/2023/04/14/opi…
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4/ After purchasing Twitter for $44 billion and renaming it @X, Musk took a wrecking ball to the company and fired 80% of all of its employees.
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5/ Since then, he has orchestrated a remarkable turnaround of a company that most of the commentariat joined the NYT in declaring dead. As the @FT argued this week, “animal spirits at X are frenetic.” ft.com/content/d31147…
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6/ Defying his critics, Musk created a channel that gave him a powerful voice in the 2024 election. And to solidify his investment, this past week he sold X to his AI startup xAI for $45 billion (though there remains some debate about the valuation).
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7/ As Musk as the leader of @DOGE now attempts to do something similar with the US government that has scores of departments, hundreds of agencies, 5 million employees (including the consultants), and a budget of nearly $7 trillion, no one would be surprised to learn that the New York Times and many who agree with it are betting against Musk.
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8/ But before placing bets, it would be prudent to review Musk’s track record. Rhetoric and theater aside, he did not become the richest man in the world by accident. He has shown a rare capacity to see and shape a future that most of the rest of us could not imagine. This includes: ubiquitous high-speed internet connected through Starlink’s mega-constellation of 7,000 satellites, a fleet of spaceships that can bring astronauts to and from the ISS at less than 1/3 the price of NASA (which was using a Russian rocket because it didn’t make its own), and fully self-driving EVs.