Viewing 40 posts - 521 through 560 (of 1,034 total)
  • Elon Musk
  • mogrim
    Full Member

    Many haven’t left yet, 3months pay and all that. It’ll be Jan/Feb/march next year for the 💩➡️fan

    I thought that was 3 months pay if you leave now?

    jam-bo
    Full Member

    I keep checking to see if twitter is still there…if it goes, I’ll miss it for the science and tech discovery aspects.

    it almost looks so badly managed as to be deliberate.

    Shred
    Free Member

    I think this is what the hypercapitalist world interprets value to be. I am seeing it in some companies I am connected to who are looking to list. You can also see this in companies like WeWork, Peloton or FTX.

    Value seems to be based on the idea you have, or the unique selling point of your vision. It is the concept that the idea is the value, the implementation or staff doing it are completely irrelevant to value.
    I have seen companies talk up the most insane things to make their valuation price higher, which in my eyes has little to no real value.

    Yet that is the way this whole systems works, as the venture capitalists depend on that to boost prices so that the listing makes them as much profit as possible, and they can either get out before it all collapses, or in the perfect world it turns into the next Amazon.
    Tesla is interesting as it holds a lot of patents which could make the company valuable even if the car manufacturing does not work out in the long run.
    Facebook and the metaverse is to me a similar concept, come up with ideas, build something that is patentable, so that in the future you have cornered the market or other have to license from you.

    cookeaa
    Full Member

    ^^ He also left with “just a rucksack” apparently…

    Totally self made man. 😐

    you can get a fair few Emeralds in a rucksack 😉

    The thing to note is that despite him trying to edit various others out of history none of the things “Elon has achieved” have ever just been him alone, there have always been other people, intelligent, capable, with domain knowledge, similarly invested in whatever business/project it is, right up to the point they leave or he cuts them out. The difference with Twitter is that he cleared out any capable allies he might have had in the business within the first week. So This is what you get with the unfiltered, unassisted “Musk management technique”; a stable company that wasn’t in crisis, driven close to failure by one dickhead Space Billionaire and his monstrous, narcissistic ego inside of a fortnight.

    Most of his contemporaries in the “Paypal Mafia” seem to have recognised the value of not hogging limelight and having the good sense to concentrate on doing one thing well at a time, rather than burning themselves and their employees out in a whim-driven, un-strategized “change for the sake of change” chaotic working environment.

    He’s not a safe pair of hands, those invested in his other businesses should be seriously worried.
    Tesla’s share value is back to late 2020 levels. If I were an investor I’d want him booted from the CEO post ASAP before he trys to do another Solarcity.
    https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/musks-all-nighters-twitter-raise-concern-tesla-investors-2022-11-15/

    dissonance
    Full Member

    it almost looks so badly managed as to be deliberate.

    The best theory I have seen is he brought twitter to try and silence that kid which posts his private jet travels.
    After being told it would be a bit to petulant to ban him he decided to wreck the site instead.

    thols2
    Full Member

    Value seems to be based on the idea you have, or the unique selling point of your vision. It is the concept that the idea is the value, the implementation or staff doing it are completely irrelevant to value.
    I have seen companies talk up the most insane things to make their valuation price higher, which in my eyes has little to no real value.

    I think the idea is that value is just what the market is willing to pay for something. It works ok when you have commodities with millions of suppliers and buyers. Falls apart when you have something fairly unique like Twitter or Facebook that are priced based on expected future earnings, but could easily vanish if some new social media site steals their customers. The value of Twitter is that hundreds of millions of users are somewhat locked into it, but Musk seems to be doing everything he can to drive them away. Without them, it has zero value.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    The value of Twitter is that hundreds of millions of users are somewhat locked into it

    Same could have been said of myspace, or friends reunited

    It’s like they need a critical mass to get started, pass that point where a couple of people in every friendship circle are onboard and you’ve got your exponential growth. But at the other end of the process there’s a point where you stagnate for a moment and then lose that 1% of your userbase and the whole thing implodes.

    tjagain
    Full Member

    Friends reunited is a classic example – it was growing and had reached a critical mass. it could have been a facebook rival. Instead they decided to charge for it and it collapsed very quickly

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Bloody hell I’d completely forgotten about Friends Reunited. The problem with that is that they had no future revenue model. They connected everyone who wanted to be connected – and then what? Nothing.

    nickc
    Full Member

    I’m pretty sure it was the other way around, they started off charging and went to banner ads for revenue. I think they were sued by a couple of teachers who’d been defamed by former pupils, so they had to moderate it pretty hard? which killed the vibe for lots of folks. Sold to ITV I think and was crushed (like a lot of other sites like this) by the emergence of Facebook, which was the same but without the divorce rate and court action.

    Original owners walked away with millions I seem to remember?

    mmannerr
    Full Member

    For the sake of us working in IT I hope he fails miserably. If not, we will suffering from new management fads based on his leadership style.
    We survived the Jobs-the-Messiah-era, now big bosses have pretended caring about employees for a couple of years now and are probably looking for something new.

    nickc
    Full Member

    As a friend of mine keep remarking, in 30 years time, folks will look back at the age of unregulated social media in the same way we look back in wonder at things like lead in paint, cars without seat belts, or ads for cigarettes on the telly.

    PrinceJohn
    Full Member

    Friends reunited is a classic example – it was growing and had reached a critical mass. it could have been a facebook rival. Instead they decided to charge for it and it collapsed very quickly

    Wasn’t that mostly horny 40yr olds hooking up with old school flames?

    chakaping
    Free Member

    I’d completely forgotten about Friends Reunited. The problem with that is that they had no future revenue model.

    I did some work for them when they were relaunched years later, I’m not sure if they had a revenue model then either but it didn’t last long.

    As I probably said earlier on this thread, it’s so interesting that FB and Twitter have both lost their way now. If there were another text-based platform suitable for narcissists I’d think Twitter might be doomed, but I reckon it’ll be sold on at a huge loss in the end, and continue to trundle on never really making any money.

    thols2
    Full Member

    cookeaa
    Full Member

    That’s basically how it all went down…

    Wasn’t that mostly horny 40yr olds hooking up with old school flames?

    And MySpace, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter… Basically all social media. I’m quietly stalking at least three old flames on here now (you know who you are) 😉

    One day humanity will look back on the “social media age” and wistfully wonder how it all would have played out if the Reptiloids hadn’t attacked from space forcing us to unite as a species and defeat them by turning the moon into a nuclear space grenade (propelled by all those raptor engines of course).

    Such a shame Elon died commanding all those Mexicans (mostly to their own deaths) in the great battle of El Paso… Or did he?

    Imagine if we were still busy being snarky **** on the interweb, letting baddy billionaires mine our data and destroying social cohesion and mental wellbeing for likes and the joy of not having to interact with other filthy humans in real life…

    Klunk
    Free Member

    Wasn’t that mostly horny 40yr olds hooking up with old school flames?

    with near fatal consequences!

    neilthewheel
    Full Member

    I was working for ITV when they bought Friends Reunited. Even I could see that was an insane piece of business, and I don’t know nuttin about nuttin.

    tjagain
    Full Member

    Friends reunited was free at first.

    thols2
    Full Member

    fanbois gonna fanboi

    TheFlyingOx
    Full Member

    it almost looks so badly managed as to be deliberate.

    It sounds a little conspiratorial, but given how many of the world’s protests and uprisings against oppressive regimes have been coordinated via Twitter, and given Musk’s current cosying up with representatives from some of the worst offending countries, you might not be too far off the mark.

    bruneep
    Full Member

    kerley
    Free Member

    Agree with the statement up there that it is more about the downfall of Musk than Twitter. He is clearly a dangerous idiot who happens to be very rich.
    Whether you like Gates, Bezos, Jobs and so on they are much more grown up and profession who just would ever do the sort of stupid stuff Musk does and it is starting to catch up with him. Once it gets rolling a bit more and people pull out of things, question why they would buy a car from a man so ridiculous etc,. it will unwind completely.

    nickc
    Full Member

    Whether you like Gates, Bezos, Jobs and so on they are much more grown up

    You know, at least the arseholes of their times; The Vanderbilts, Rothschilds and Rockefellers were the benefactors of Libraries, Universities, hospitals, Endowments and so on. Our man-children build penis shaped rockets and go to “not quite space” with old Canadian actors. Call rescue workers “peodos” and if you ever need to see and hear how much of a testy little prick Gates actually is, grab yourself a copy/ video of his deposition when Microsoft was being sued for being colossal aresholes. 

    They are not, by any sensible measure, “grown up”. and while you can laugh at them, they are as a group – of “silicon valley entrepreneurs” , wildly over entitled, think that they’re opinions on pretty much everything are better than anyone elses; mostly anti-democratic or learn autocratically very right, and are actively either doing themselves or funding groups or individuals who are doing their damnest to bring about their vision of the future. One where they and people like them have political power, and folks like you and me, do not.

    kerley
    Free Member

    Fair enough – a low bar bit I still think Musk is a different sort of incompetent.

    nickc
    Full Member

    The worry for me is the off-stage voices that are talking to Musk that we’re not hearing, (and I realise this is straying into conspiracy theory-land) I think – some evidence of it has already been published that whatever Musk is attempting to do at Twitter, he’s not doing it alone.

    sirromj
    Full Member

    if you ever need to see and hear how much of a testy little prick Gates actually is, grab yourself a copy/ video of his deposition when Microsoft was being sued for being colossal aresholes. 

    From 20 years ago? I vaguely remember being a Gates hater, turning to Linux (and still use it) on my home PCs. But hasn’t the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation made up for it yet, made him soft and cuddly almost, doesn’t it put him with your prior group of filty rich arseholes? 😀

    that they’re opinions on pretty much everything are better than anyone elses;

    Thought that was just a part of being human, seems to be a part of 99% of humans I encounter online and IRL.

    nickc
    Full Member

    But hasn’t the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation made up for it yet

    No, the Foundation is just a way of making sure that everything that has worth is monetised. It’s founding philosophy is that “If you want good things to happen, make it worth (ie make money) someones time to do that” It’s still a shill for millionaires.

    These folks are not on our side.They mostly want whats best for a v small group of people (ie them). The argument that billionaires (tech or otherwise) are more of a clear and present danger than climate change is not entirely meritless.

    doris5000
    Full Member

    I think the idea that Gates is bad despite his philanthropy, but Rockefeller’s philanthropy cancels out his scumbaggery is a bit of a reach tbh. If we had footage of Rockefeller in some of his trials for being a colossal arsehole, you might form a similar opinion.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre

    Approximately 21 people, including miners’ wives and children, were killed. John D. Rockefeller Jr., a part-owner of CF&I who had recently appeared before a United States congressional hearing on the strikes, was widely blamed for having orchestrated the massacre.

    thols2
    Full Member

    I think the idea that Gates is bad despite his philanthropy, but Rockefeller’s philanthropy cancels out his scumbaggery is a bit of a reach tbh.

    Gates is a prick, his philanthropy is a good thing. Rockefeller was a much bigger prick than Gates. His philanthropy was also a good thing. I would have been better if they weren’t such utter pricks.

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    Just reading about all this.

    Might we see the proper collapse of Twitter?
    Might we also see Musk booted from many of the other companies he is involved with?

    It seems he is intent on everyone working 100 hour weeks, jumping when he snaps his fingers, and no idea of the effort it takes to do things properly…is he ‘damaged goods’ which no one will want to work with in future?

    ditch_jockey
    Free Member

    It’d be heartwarming to think so, but the Musks and Trumps of this world seem to be like cockroaches in their resilience against being held to account.

    mert
    Free Member

    is he ‘damaged goods’ which no one will want to work with in future?

    To be quite honest, no one much wants to work for him/with him now.

    Unless he stuns them with quite brain bending salary offers.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Pretty sure Rockerfeller &co just set up those museums and art galleries and that just so they could have their name emblazoned on the side and all their rich **** friends would see it as they went in for their rich person entertainments.

    Daffy
    Full Member

    You know, at least the arseholes of their times; The Vanderbilts, Rothschilds and Rockefellers were the benefactors of Libraries, Universities, hospitals, Endowments and so on.

    …only after spending most of their lives behaving EXACTLY like Musk.

    Gates is the exception. Microsoft rarely (never?) abused its workers to the benefit of its CEO.

    dissonance
    Full Member

    Pretty sure Rockerfeller &co just set up those museums and art gallerie

    Yeah. A modern version is the Sacklers and their attempts to buy respectability whilst pushing opiates to the US population.

    Microsoft rarely (never?) abused its workers to the benefit of its CEO.

    MS, like many other tech companies, did have a habit of making many staff contractors and treating them like crap.
    I have read a couple of stories about Gates which suggest the philanthropy was due to his, now ex, wife having a positive impact on him.

    kimbers
    Full Member

    So Murdoch & others well be waiting in the wings for musk ti bring it all down so they can launch the next twitter

    jodafett
    Full Member

    So Murdoch & others well be waiting in the wings for musk ti bring it all down so they can launch the next twitter

    A mass exodus to Truth Social 🫣

    kimbers
    Full Member

    It’s all about Matt Hancock the app 😳

    We’re all on there, right?

    https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/17/twitter_refugees_matt_hancock/

    dissonance
    Full Member

    So Murdoch & others well be waiting in the wings for musk ti bring it all down so they can launch the next twitter

    I think after the myspace debacle Murdoch will be keeping to the old fashioned media. It has lost some effectiveness but still has plenty of punching power and he is a master of it.

Viewing 40 posts - 521 through 560 (of 1,034 total)

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