MUSK MAKES TWITTER MORE INTERESTING

What Elon Musk's US$3 billion Twitter deal means for him-and for social media

- HAMZA MUDASSIR

THE WORLD's richest man, Elon Musk, is now Twitter's largest shareholder after acquiring a 9.2% stake in the social media platform for just under US$3 billion (R47 billion).

The announcement drove Twitter's share price up 27%, and it continued to grow in after-hours trading. This investor enthusiasm is not surprising. Social media platforms have been suffering lately, thanks to newly developed pressures in their ecosystems.

For example, Twitter, and also Meta, have been on the receiving end of Apple's anti user-tracking system. This is costing them billions of dollars in lost revenues, causing both companies' stock to languish for the past few months.

Musk's arrival as Twitter's largest shareholder will probably not make a difference to that issue, but it does address two other recent investor concerns.

Firstly, Musk had been threatening to create a competing social media network where “freedom of speech" ideals would be adhered to. The threat of a new popular entrant being created by a visionary tech leader now goes away. It also shows that Musk is coming in with a vision to drive change in the ecosystem, which is something not to be taken lightly.

Secondly, Musk's presence has the potential to accelerate innovation and competitiveness at Twitter, which the company has not been able to do well enough in the past. With Jack Dorsey (ex-CEO and co-founder of Twitter) announcing his resignation a few months ago, there is enough breathing room at the top to make bold moves that could help the platform to grow beyond the foundation it resides on today.

So, we know that Twitter investors are happy-but over the long run, will users be?

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