Elon Musk | Doer of things on X and sad little man

VorZakone said:
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Okay, I just need to point out. That is (seemingly) just a high-level overview of the tech. It’s what is often put together for documentation purposes and for presentation to managers and whatnot. Musk is such a try hard, he really sucks. Just one of those components (e.g. the frontend) has so much to it. This looks like he asked them to draw it, probably asked some stupid questions and then posted that to show off to his army of losers expecting them to go ‘omg you are such a genius!’.
 
horsechoker said:
It's weird he feels the need to be spokesman when most others let a corporate account do the talking.

I'm glad we don't have the Glazers on twitter saying "big day today"
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Most companies have strategic communications people (aka the pros) do their talking. Most of Musk's problems are traceable to stupid things he's said, so he should probably take a look at hiring someone to talk on his behalf.
 
RG77 said:
Okay, I just need to point out. That is (seemingly) just a high-level overview of the tech. It’s what is often put together for documentation purposes and for presentation to managers and whatnot. Musk is such a try hard, he really sucks. Just one of those components (e.g. the frontend) has so much to it. This looks like he asked them to draw it, probably asked some stupid questions and then posted that to show off to his army of losers expecting them to go ‘omg you are such a genius!’.
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Yep. What Elon is calling a 'code review' is in fact a high level system design diagram, exposes how much he really knows.
 
I suppose what's the most bizarre is that business leaders generally try to be inoffensive above everything else. MElon head is willing to lose customers to give his ego a little boost on a social media app. Which makes you wonder what's going on psychologically, all business questions aside.

So what's the business benefit here? Become the go to electric car for the Right and for trolls?

Of course FElon needs raw materials from Russia for his cars, so he sucks up to Russia. He's getting push back in China and desperate to keep the CCP happy so he can sell cars there, so he actually suggests someone might want Hong Kong's fate.

I see the business benefit there, even if it's disgusting.

Does he think he's cultivating his genius aura?
 
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He strikes me as someone who thinks it's all just a game. Seems very far removed from reality.
 
Raoul said:
Most companies have strategic communications people (aka the pros) do their talking. Most of Musk's problems are traceable to stupid things he's said, so he should probably take a look at hiring someone to talk on his behalf.
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And lose out on all the adulation from the right wing alpha bros? Never !
 
phelans shorts said:
That just reminds me of the time Arsenal (I think? Or was it Leeds…) tweeted “don’t go to bed yet!” at the end of deadline day then then two hours later announced a couple of reserves had gone out on loan.
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:lol: Bloody hell
 
Jotun said:
So it's been leaking money except in 2018 and 2019? What happened? Revenue jump in those years doesn't correspond with profits, so they somehow cut expenses, how? Also why did they lose so much money in 2020, but they've had revenue growth, what were the extra costs?

These numbers (2017 to 2021) are so strange to me, such huge shifts in profits, while revenue consistently rising. It makes me wonder what's going on. On the other hand I know nothing about finances of big corporations.
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There are a couple of exceptions that make the results / trend seem a bit weird, but basically Twitter has been doing well financially in the last 5 years, with the exception of that covid year. They just haven’t been doing as well as the other big tech behemoths and that’s tended to shape the narrative.

The 2021 figures included an $800m settlement launched in 2016. If not for that, i.e. based on real business performance in that year, they made a substantial profit. The 2020 and 2019 figures start talking about deferred tax assets and intra-entity transfers of intangible assets so I start losing the thread a bit there, but the adjusted net income / loss figures that exclude those things paint a fairly simple picture where Twitter‘s profits in 2018, 2019 and 2021 were in the same range, and the covid hit was big but not catastrophic. They were less affected by Apple’s changes than Facebook or TikTok too, and it posted over $500m in profit in Q1 this year.

It’s obviously vulnerable to the mood of the ad industry and things like the pandemic, but people have been floating around this idea that it’s this failing company on a road to nowhere, and it needed drastic changes to become a profitable company. The line “failed to post a profit in 8 of the last 10 years” was always brought out, and few people decided to point out the second half of those 10 years were dramatically different to the first half. Hence misleading perceptions form like…

Cassidy said:
Not when the plane was already one fire before he took over
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Cassidy said:
I reckon Twitter will turn out to be better and profitable within 24 months.
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Even though by any reasonable definition, Twitter already was profitable.

Small details like an $800m settlement from a case launched in 2016 don’t tend to make it into those narratives.

2021 results are here.

• 2021 revenue was $5.08 billion, an increase of 37% year over year.
• 2021 operating loss of $493 million, or an operating margin of -10%, includes a one-time litigation-related net charge of $766 million1, as well as ongoing investments.
o 2021 adjusted operating income, which excludes the one-time litigation-related net charge, was $273 million reflecting an adjusted operating margin of 5%. Operating income was $27 million in 2020, which includes a $150 million non-recurring expense related to an ongoing FTC matter in Q2 of 2020, representing an operating margin of 1%.
• 2021 net loss was $221 million, representing a net margin of -4% and diluted EPS of ($0.28).

1 Includes a charge recorded in the third quarter of 2021 of $809.5 million to settle a shareholder class action lawsuit partially offset by the recognition of an insurance recovery of $5.8 million. In addition, during the third quarter we recorded a benefit for insurance proceeds of $38.0 million related to the settlement of separate shareholder derivative lawsuits.
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2020 results are here.
  • 2020 net loss was $1.14 billion, representing a net margin of -31% and diluted EPS of -$1.44. This compares to 2019 net income of $1.47 billion, representing a net margin of 42% and diluted EPS of $1.87. Both periods were affected by non-cash, tax related adjustments as described below.
    • In 2020, excluding a deferred tax asset valuation allowance of $1.10 billion and corresponding non-cash income tax expense based primarily on cumulative taxable losses driven primarily by COVID-19, adjusted net loss was $34 million, adjusted net margin was -1%, and adjusted diluted EPS was -$0.04.
    • In 2019, excluding an income tax benefit from the establishment of deferred tax assets related to intra-entity transfers of intangible assets of $1.21 billion, adjusted net income was $259 million, adjusted net margin was 7%, and adjusted diluted EPS was $0.33.
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WPMUFC said:
He has unbanned Trump. Let's see how long "truthsocial" lasts now :lol:
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frostbite said:
He had said he formed a committee and they will not take any decisions quickly and so on.

All lies.
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I guess he'll get a bit of a traffic boost for his advertisers and then he's got the World Cup as a driver for the next month.

Trump should sue Twitter for losses incurred on having to set up truth in the first place, and losses further incurred do to the reinstatement.
 
This creates an interesting dilemma for Trump.

If he abandons his own social platform and gets back to Twitter, then he is not only a traitor to his people, but he also accepts Musk as his master. Because Musk can easily ban him again from Twitter at any time. It is not the same situation as before. Before, it was a committee of some nobodies, some liberal nerds. This time it is a single human being, Elon Musk, who is richer than Trump.

It is easy for Jordan Peterson to say "thank you" to Musk. It is different for Trump. We'll see....
 
Brwned said:
There are a couple of exceptions that make the results / trend seem a bit weird, but basically Twitter has been doing well financially in the last 5 years, with the exception of that covid year. They just haven’t been doing as well as the other big tech behemoths and that’s tended to shape the narrative.

The 2021 figures included an $800m settlement launched in 2016. If not for that, i.e. based on real business performance in that year, they made a substantial profit. The 2020 and 2019 figures start talking about deferred tax assets and intra-entity transfers of intangible assets so I start losing the thread a bit there, but the adjusted net income / loss figures that exclude those things paint a fairly simple picture where Twitter‘s profits in 2018, 2019 and 2021 were in the same range, and the covid hit was big but not catastrophic. They were less affected by Apple’s changes than Facebook or TikTok too, and it posted over $500m in profit in Q1 this year.

It’s obviously vulnerable to the mood of the ad industry and things like the pandemic, but people have been floating around this idea that it’s this failing company on a road to nowhere, and it needed drastic changes to become a profitable company. The line “failed to post a profit in 8 of the last 10 years” was always brought out, and few people decided to point out the second half of those 10 years were dramatically different to the first half. Hence misleading perceptions form like…





Even though by any reasonable definition, Twitter already was profitable.

Small details like an $800m settlement from a case launched in 2016 don’t tend to make it into those narratives.

2021 results are here.

2020 results are here.
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Just a minor note that Twitter were less impacted by Apple's changes because their ads were already less relevant to the users in the first place. They lag behind other social medias when it comes to ads revenue not just because of less DAU but also due to irrelevancy of ads not resulting in converts for advertisers.
 
utdalltheway said:
Feck that, I’m out of Twitter.
I’ve no interest in the shitshow that’s coming. Too much living to do.
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Yep that was a final nail in the coffin for me too, I’ve mainly used it to follow Russian invasion war updates but I’ll find alternative sources like Telegram. Feck him I deactivated my account this morning. Also, next car I’m going for is EV but Tesla is out of the question too. Good luck trying to sell them to right wing nuts.
 
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frostbite said:
This creates an interesting dilemma for Trump.

If he abandons his own social platform and gets back to Twitter, then he is not only a traitor to his people, but he also accepts Musk as his master. Because Musk can easily ban him again from Twitter at any time. It is not the same situation as before. Before, it was a committee of some nobodies, some liberal nerds. This time it is a single human being, Elon Musk, who is richer than Trump.

It is easy for Jordan Peterson to say "thank you" to Musk. It is different for Trump. We'll see....
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That's a bit much. Also he can just post on both?
 
frostbite said:
This creates an interesting dilemma for Trump.

If he abandons his own social platform and gets back to Twitter, then he is not only a traitor to his people, but he also accepts Musk as his master. Because Musk can easily ban him again from Twitter at any time. It is not the same situation as before. Before, it was a committee of some nobodies, some liberal nerds. This time it is a single human being, Elon Musk, who is richer than Trump.

It is easy for Jordan Peterson to say "thank you" to Musk. It is different for Trump. We'll see....
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Spot on. Will be very interesting to see what Trump ends up doing.
 
As speculated before by a number of posters, Musk is clearly a rogue trader at best, or a mole at worst. I cannot see how he is going to stay and operate free in the US without his entire portfolio being scrutinised and restrained.
 
crappycraperson said:
Just a minor note that Twitter were less impacted by Apple's changes because their ads were already less relevant to the users in the first place. They lag behind other social medias when it comes to ads revenue not just because of less DAU but also due to irrelevancy of ads not resulting in converts for advertisers.
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I wouldn’t say it’s about relevance. They are less effective at mining and deploying their users data for targeted advertising, or what they call direct response advertising. So they’re only really an option for brand advertising. In that space, their ad data deficiencies are far less important. Of course, Twitter have been trying to be an option for both forms of advertising for years now, and they’ve just failed at it. But Apple’s changes already significantly limit the value of this kind of targeted advertising, Google are going in the same direction, and it does mean in a real sense Twitter are less vulnerable to those changes than its competitors.

And I would very much argue that most targeting is a sham and the definition of its effectiveness (and relevance) is full of holes.

Twitter differs from Facebook, whose millions of small and midsize advertisers generate the bulk of the company’s revenue and depend on its enormous size and targeting abilities to reach customers. Twitter’s clientele is heavily weighted with large, mainstream companies, which tend to be wary of their ads appearing alongside problematic content.

Twitter earns the vast majority of its ad revenue from brand awareness campaigns, whose effectiveness is much harder to evaluate than ads that target users based on their interests or that push for a direct response, such as clicking through to a website. The company has tried for years to make its platform a better destination for ads that generate measurable sales, and rebuilt its ad server in 2019 and 2020 to meet marketer demands.
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Mr Pigeon said:


There is some impressive sexism going on right now.
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Right? First I thought I missed the point but that's basically all that's going on there. Based on two totally unrelated and rather random photos as well.
 
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