He is no longer the richest man in the world and also receives an inglorious title in the Guinness Book of Records. But not only Elon Musk has fallen deeply with Twitter. In 2023, social networks will face major challenges.
The Twitter acquisition cost Elon Musk more than $44 billion. What’s more, he had to give up the title of “richest man in the world” to the French entrepreneur Bernard Arnault. And now he is also in the Guinness Book of Records, but not in the way he would like: Musk is attested the “largest loss of private wealth” within a year. According to estimates, he should have lost over 180 billion US dollars in twelve months. After more than 20 years, he has replaced the Japanese tech investor Masayoshi Son, who once blundered $58 billion.
According to Forbes, Musk’s net worth has fallen from a peak of $320 billion at the end of 2021 to $138 billion in January 2023. “Short-term market madness is unpredictable,” Musk tweeted after the market closed on Dec. 30, 2022. A trend that could continue into 2023. But it was not only an annus horribilis for Elon Musk and Twitter.
In October, Musk more or less voluntarily took over the short message service Twitter – for $ 44 billion, as announced six months earlier. Shareholders were paid out, the stock exchange informed, and the company privatized. Since then he has ruled with the wrecking ball, fired half of the employees, engaged in verbal battles on the platform, haggled over subscription prices in a media-effective manner, positioned himself politically, blocked critics and also had his future on Twitter voted on. With a clear result: 57.7 percent spoke out in favor of his resignation. And the 51-year-old actually wants to comply, but the search is difficult because there is no one who could “actually keep Twitter alive”.
Twitter and dear money. So while Musk is looking for a suitable successor who is “foolish” enough to take the job, Twitter must find answers to a much more pressing problem: How will the company become profitable?
