NEW YORK – MAY 2, 2012: Elon Musk at the 2022 Met Gala to Celebrate “In America: An” … [+]
I’m not one to make impulsive decisions, but then again I also don’t have millions or billions in the bank. Just about every car I’ve ever purchased has led to some buyer remorse, except the most recent one where I bought my neighbor’s car.
We are all limited in our financial means, so when it comes to buying something, most people have to accept it.
When you’re Elon Musk, that might not be the case.
Recent reports claim that the well-known entrepreneur is planning to cancel his agreement to buy Twitter. It made me wonder if that’s due to some second thoughts about his own financial position or if the company itself is not as valuable as he once thought.
Let’s parse that out for a moment.
A second thought can be a reminder to revisit the initial idea. It is a common practice to do this when you have a vehicle or home. Not with $44B worth of social media platforms. The economy is tanking, so it makes me wonder if Musk just realized he doesn’t want to own the platform as much as he originally thought. It’s a curious development, because he is still pumping out tweets faster than ever, including a recent one about having more kids.
Musk still loves Twitter but he might hate the idea of buying a massive company when it looks like inflation won’t be abating anytime soon and stocks are plummeting.
That’s Buyer remorse, the sinking feeling that you bought something you no longer want or can’t afford. The second option? If he isn’t experiencing remorse, he might be dealing with a tinge of Buyer beware. Twitter is home to many bots. It’s pretty hard to monetize those, to generate revenue from non-humans. A part of the buyout agreement includes some verbiage about knowing the percentage of fake accounts and bots on the platform.
My car analogy is buyer’s remorse. This is the feeling when you realize that the Ford pick-up truck you want is not what you need, but instead wonder if it is possible to afford. With buyer beware, you realize the product or service is seriously flawed or the signs are all suggesting that the purchase doesn’t make sense. You are buying something that could start losing value over time; it’s a big mistake.
I tend to think it’s a little of both.
If he’s questioning the deal, it could be a mix of regret and caution. Musk has seen his stock drop since April, even though he is still the wealthiest person in the country. What has an electric car manufacturer got to do it with a social network? It appears that the stock market is in agreement with everything.
Meanwhile, Twitter hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire. The stock has also dropped, and the company announced plans to allow 2,500-word blogs which seems like a desperation move to attract a few bloggers to a platform that is mostly famous for the accounts it’s suspended.
In other words, there’s drama.
Either way, that doesn’t seem like a wise purchase after all.
