It must be a little intoxicating to move markets. Imagine if your last purchase of a stock or token increased the value of that security simply because it became known that you did the trade.
Such is the case with Elon Musk and Twitter. As Marketingwithanoy reported this morning, the noted tech entrepreneur “has taken a 9.2% stake in the company, which is roughly $2.9 billion based on Friday’s stock price.” In response to Musk’s revelation that he had bought so much from the US social network, Twitter’s shares are up 24.6%, as I’m writing you this morning.
The Exchange explores startups, markets and money.
Read it every morning on Marketingwithanoy+ or get The Exchange’s newsletter every Saturday.
For Twitter, the Musk purchase will bring in billions of dollars in new market cap, meaning the social company will be harder to acquire and better able to do M&A deals as it has more value to throw around. Hell, the stock price hike, if it continues, is basically a raise for Twitter staff, perhaps limiting human attrition amid a tight job market.
Unless Musk goes wild with his Twitter share, he just gave the company a nice present.
But people rarely drop a few billion dollars for fun — Musk probably has some goals in mind for his nearly 10% stake in Twitter. But at least he decided not to build his own vanity network.
Using Twitter
Aside from TikTok, the field of new social networks feels a bit thin. And those who have pushed their way into market share have generally done so by breaking new ground on digital human interaction rather than repeating what worked before. TikTok has made it by focusing on short videos and music, just as Twitter exploded with micro-posts. Instagram had a good idea with feeds of images. You get the idea.
Copycat success has been rare, at least in recent years, especially among startups looking to pursue a winning model. A good example of this are the regular attempts to replace Twitter. Do you remember Mastodon? Probably not. Have you recently used Gettr, Truth Social or Parler or Gab? Probably not. And yet there are plenty of companies trying to recreate the magic of Twitter.
Musk had been mulling over a new social network in March after posting some unlearned criticism of how Twitter runs its own service. But instead of buying something smaller or building something new, Musk bought shares of Twitter. What now†