Elon Musk has been all over the news lately. From his comments on free speech to his bold offer to buy Twitter for $43-billion; the tech mogul is doubling down on his support of the first amendment.
But in the wake of his aggressive bid to purchase the social media site and take it private, the pundits and meme-makers have been working overboard. One popular claim that was bouncing around the Internet even before Musk revealed his 9.2% stake in Twitter, was that the multi-billionaire could give everyone in America $1-million dollars. Or end world hunger, or global poverty.
Musk’s Early Wealth
South African-born Elon Reeve Musk formed his first company Zip2 in 1995, per Financhill, which he later sold to Compaq in 1999 for a cool $307 million. This sale propelled Musk into millionaire status, netting the SpaceX CEO $22 million when he finalized the deal.
Using those funds, Musk founded X.com, which eventually became the payment and financial processing giant known as PayPal. Two years after its inception, eBay bought PayPal for $1.5 billion in stock.
This sale grew Musk’s net worth by another $165 million, allowing him to invest in other projects and companies. Telsa Motors, SpaceX, and The Boring Company are all owned by Musk and were, at least in part, started by the business mogul.
Reportedly, Musk is worth about $270-billion. Of course, not all of that is cash or even accessible. But try explaining that to folks on social media.
It’s the Math, Stupid
As a recent Snopes.com article points out, if there are approximately 330-million people in the United States, then dividing the $44-billion Musk offered for Twitter would grant each citizen about $121. Because that’s how math works.
While $44-billion or $270-billion sound like astronomical numbers – and are more money than anyone will see in their lifetime – it’s still a limited resource. A billion dollars is 1000 x a million dollars. 44-thousand million is a lot less than 330-million. And while $121 might be helpful when filling your tank with gas these days, it’s not the lottery ticket winning that some folks on the Internet persist in arguing about.
To Infinity and Beyond
Musk, who has a deep fascination with space and especially Mars, founded Space Exploration Technologies Corporation in 2002 as an inroad to building a greenhouse on the ‘Red Planet.’ Since then, he has launched a car, a Tesla Roadster, into space and sent up the first privately crewed space flight, making history in 2020.
His goal of building a greenhouse on Mars is still very much alive. According to Science and Nature, Musk wants to continue that dream and eventually colonize Earth’s closest neighbor. Although the price tag is a hefty one, Musk believes that a small colony of people can set foot on Mars for somewhere in the ballpark of $200,000 per person.
It’s not ending world hunger, but its a worthwhile achievement in Musk’s mind.
Hostile Takeover
Between all of Elon Musk’s companies and financial endeavors, there are some strong opinions about his bid to purchase Twitter. It’s well-known that Musk tends to buy companies that further his ambitions for clean energy and space exploration.
But is Twitter a personal purchase for Musk, or does he see it as his way to shepherd a better democracy, given his penchant for freedom of speech and first amendment rights?
Given the tone of his tweets in the weeks leading up to the purchase, he does seem serious about engaging in freedom of discussion at least.
Musk, hitting Twitter where it hurts, posted a poll that asked, “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this policy?”
Of those who answered the poll, 70.24% said they didn’t believe Twitter rigorously adhered to this policy. And if it was just about free speech, shareholders might go for a tender offer from the Telsa CEO. Still, politics and business often mix, according to The Street.
The House Judiciary Committee wrote a formal letter to Twitter board Chairman Bret Taylor. The letter stated, among other things, “As Congress continues to examine Big Tech and how to protect Americans’ free speech rights best, this letter serves as a formal request that you preserve all records and materials relating to Musk’s offer to purchase Twitter, including Twitter’s consideration and response to this offer, and Twitter’s evaluation of its shareholder interests concerning Musk’s offer.”
While things are looking good for Musk’s purchase of Twitter at the moment, it still has to pass the general shareholders acceptance and any regulatory concerns. However, since it was the general shareholders who pushed the board to negotiate over the weekend, it is expected to be an easy step to get them on board, despite the pending lawsuit from former Twitter shareholders against Musk.
The regulatory should be similarly simple, since Musk is not eliminating competition or forming a monopoly. But considering Salesforce and Disney both attempted unsuccessfully to purchase Twitter in the past, it’s still not a foregone conclusion. But Musk’s shot at success is one for the record books if he can pull it off.
Originally published at Wealth of Geeks
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