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Elon isn't fucking around

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TC Talks
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Re: Elon isn't fucking around

Post by TC Talks » Fri Nov 04, 2022 5:30 pm

From the runaway bestseller "How to Piss Away 44 Billion Dollars in 4 Weeks"...

For anyone who is applauding this please join us back here when you're laid off and let us know what a great idea Elon had today.
Sandra Sucher, a professor of management at Harvard University who has studied layoffs for more than a decade, said Twitter’s cuts were among the most poorly handled that she had seen. While the scale was not unprecedented, it was unusual to see layoffs done so quickly without a detailed explanation provided to workers about who was being laid off and why, she said.

“This is a master class in how not to do it,” Ms. Sucher said. “If you were going to rank order ways to upset people, telling them you’re going to do it in advance, without rationale, that is a particularly inhumane way to treat them.”


“The more you can increase fear of drugs, crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all of the people.”
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Re: Elon isn't fucking around

Post by Matt » Fri Nov 04, 2022 6:18 pm

TC Talks wrote:
Fri Nov 04, 2022 5:30 pm
From the runaway bestseller "How to Piss Away 44 Billion Dollars in 4 Weeks"...

For anyone who is applauding this please join us back here when you're laid off and let us know what a great idea Elon had today.
Sandra Sucher, a professor of management at Harvard University who has studied layoffs for more than a decade, said Twitter’s cuts were among the most poorly handled that she had seen. While the scale was not unprecedented, it was unusual to see layoffs done so quickly without a detailed explanation provided to workers about who was being laid off and why, she said.

“This is a master class in how not to do it,” Ms. Sucher said. “If you were going to rank order ways to upset people, telling them you’re going to do it in advance, without rationale, that is a particularly inhumane way to treat them.”
Acknowledging the optics are not good, prior management is responsible for Twitter's failure. They allowed the site to become a cancel culture dominated leftist cesspool that chased advertisers away. Elon isn't looking to run a social welfare organization. It sucks that it had to come to this, but the writing has been on the wall for awhile.


What's more pathetic: harassing an old man who is paying to do a radio show or supporting a grifter like Trump?

bmw
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Re: Elon isn't fucking around

Post by bmw » Fri Nov 04, 2022 6:56 pm

Matt wrote:
Fri Nov 04, 2022 6:18 pm
the writing has been on the wall for awhile.
This was my thought too. There can't be anybody surprised they're being let go as Elon's original offer goes back to APRIL of this year. That's 7 months to start looking for a new job.



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Re: Elon isn't fucking around

Post by Rate This » Fri Nov 04, 2022 7:15 pm

bmw wrote:
Fri Nov 04, 2022 6:56 pm
Matt wrote:
Fri Nov 04, 2022 6:18 pm
the writing has been on the wall for awhile.
This was my thought too. There can't be anybody surprised they're being let go as Elon's original offer goes back to APRIL of this year. That's 7 months to start looking for a new job.
My thing is that monetizing the blue check marks and possibly adding the ability to directly message people with said check mark… doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense. He has not exactly conveyed a sense that he has a clue what he’s doing here.



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Re: Elon isn't fucking around

Post by Matt » Fri Nov 04, 2022 10:34 pm



What's more pathetic: harassing an old man who is paying to do a radio show or supporting a grifter like Trump?

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Re: Elon isn't fucking around

Post by Rate This » Fri Nov 04, 2022 11:15 pm

Isn’t he charming? Considering major companies are pulling their ads… I wonder how much worse that’s gonna get? What’s the over under on somebody getting an account on the “free speechified” Twitter and accusing Elon Musk of being a child molester or something? How far does he have the guts to go here?



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Re: Elon isn't fucking around

Post by TC Talks » Fri Nov 04, 2022 11:33 pm

You can't marginalize a product and expect the users to continue to pay for it. I think the mass Exodus will turn Twitter into a niche social media product, corporation and celebrities will no longer use it as a tool to promote which makes it useless to most followers.


“The more you can increase fear of drugs, crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all of the people.”
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Re: Elon isn't fucking around

Post by MotorCityRadioFreak » Fri Nov 04, 2022 11:49 pm

You have people in droves quitting Twitter. I predict profits go down at least 50% a year from now. If the people with blue check marks leave after being threatened to pay , it’s all over. Only right wing sycophants will pay. You can’t monetize everything, rich Elon bot.


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Re: Elon isn't fucking around

Post by audiophile » Sat Nov 05, 2022 4:45 am

I quit Twitter when they blocked links to certian newspapers. I kept the picture of the block notice.

I've seen several quit facebook and switch to twitter in the last few days.


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Re: Elon isn't fucking around

Post by MotorCityRadioFreak » Sat Nov 05, 2022 5:47 am

audiophile wrote:
Sat Nov 05, 2022 4:45 am
I quit Twitter when they blocked links to certian newspapers. I kept the picture of the block notice.

I've seen several quit facebook and switch to twitter in the last few days.
Good, maybe they can stop trolling COVID articles with anti vaxxer garbage.


They/them, non-binary and proud.

Remember that “2000 Mules” was concocted by a circus of elephants.
The right needs to stop worry about what’s between people’s legs. Instead, they should focus on what’s between their ears.
Audacity sucks.

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Re: Elon isn't fucking around

Post by Circle Seven » Sat Nov 05, 2022 6:42 am

TC Talks wrote:
Fri Nov 04, 2022 11:33 pm
You can't marginalize a product and expect the users to continue to pay for it. I think the mass Exodus will turn Twitter into a niche social media product, corporation and celebrities will no longer use it as a tool to promote which makes it useless to most followers.
I do agree with all that. But the government and media and entertainment industries are still going to need a place like Twitter.
Wonder where they will flock to? To be honest, I think there is an opportunity here for someone to make some Big Bucks with another Twitter style media site catering to the three groups I mentioned. I wonder if this thought has crossed Zuckerberg's mind yet?



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Re: Elon isn't fucking around

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Nov 05, 2022 7:40 am

Elon Musk is a twat. It's only fitting he's now the chief twit. I've never liked the guy. He has a face that is begging to be sucker punched, mainly because of his arrogant personality.

His cars are rolling piles of shit, but then again, most pure-EVs are rolling piles of shit. Has he finally figured out how to assemble body panels correctly? (His market share in Europe, where plug-in EVs are quite popular, has plummeted since 2019. The number of annual units sold there by Tesla has grown since 2019, but other automakers such as Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen are selling far more EV units in Europe than Tesla these days.)

The recent financial challenges at Twitter are mostly an expense issue, not a revenue issue, contrary to what some here and elsewhere have written to fit their political narrative of choice.

The company under its prior leadership went on a spending spree and has also been adversely impacted by rising infrastructure costs (chip shortage related in large part, I'm sure). Downsizing staffing is a wise move given the current cost control challenges the company is facing and given the uncertain economic outlook that exists.

Here is the June 30, 2022 Form 10-Q:
https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/C ... 35e3bb.pdf

From page 42:
In the six months ended June 30, 2022, cost of revenue increased by $250.2 million compared to the six months ended June 30, 2021. The increase was attributable to a $115.6 million increase in infrastructure costs, a $74.4 million increase driven primarily by revenue share expenses and personnel-related costs due to an increase in employee headcount, and a $60.2 million increase in depreciation and amortization expense.

We plan to continue to scale the capacity and enhance the capability and reliability of our infrastructure to support mDAU growth and increased activity on our platform. We expect that cost of revenue will vary as a percentage of revenue over time.
Note: mDAU = monetizable daily active user. These are essentially users who are logged into their Twitter account (or another Twitter owned platform) who are able to view ads.

Also from page 42:
In the six months ended June 30, 2022, research and development expenses increased by $276.0 million compared to the six months ended June 30, 2021. The increase was driven by a $217.2 million increase in personnel-related costs mainly driven by an increase in employee headcount as we continued to invest in engineering, product, design, and research. Personnel-related costs included $13.1 million of severance-related costs incurred in the second quarter of 2022. The increases in research and development expenses were also driven by a $36.0 million increase in facilities costs and other administrative expenses, and a $22.8 million decrease in the capitalization of costs associated with developing software for internal use due to reprioritization efforts.

We are moderating our investments and striving to be even more focused on limiting our investments in engineering, product, design, and research. As we look to manage our cost structure, we will see a reduction in research and development expense growth in the near future. We expect that research and development expenses will vary as a percentage of revenue over time.
From page 43:
In the six months ended June 30, 2022, sales and marketing expenses increased by $71.6 million compared to the six months ended June 30, 2021. The increase was attributable to a $46.7 million increase in personnel-related costs, a $21.1 million net increase in facilities costs and other administrative expenses, and a $3.8 million increase in marketing and sales-related expenses. The increase in personnel-related costs was mainly driven by an increase in employee headcount, and it included $2.9 million of severance-related costs incurred in the second quarter of 2022.

We are moderating our investments and striving to be even more focused on limiting our investments in sales and marketing. As we look to manage our cost structure, we will see a reduction in sales and marketing expense growth in the near future. We expect that sales and marketing expenses will vary as a percentage of revenue over time.
Finally, from page 44:
In the six months ended June 30, 2022, general and administrative expenses increased by $107.4 million compared to the six months ended June 30, 2021. The increase was primarily attributable to a $67.1 million increase in personnel-related costs, mainly driven by an increase in employee headcount. Personnel-related costs included $2.8 million of severance-related costs incurred in the second quarter of 2022. The increase in general and administrative expenses was also driven by $33.1 million of transaction expenses associated with the proposed Merger incurred in the second quarter of 2022 and a $9.7 million increase in other professional service fees, offset by a $2.5 million net decrease in facilities costs and other administrative expenses.

We plan to continue to invest in general and administrative functions to ensure we have an appropriate level of support for our key objectives. We expect that general and administrative expenses will vary as a percentage of revenue over time. As we look to manage our cost structure, we will see a reduction in certain general and administrative expenses; however, in the near term, general and administrative expenses will likely increase in absolute terms due to costs related to the Merger and related litigation.
Clearly, the prior executive management team lacked proper expense control discipline. They knew the investor community was nervous (understandably so), which is why the above passages from the June 30, 2022 10Q filing gave some lip service toward promising spending cuts in certain areas moving forward.

The overtures Musk is making toward certain disaffected former Twitter users are being made because he understands the more people who use the Twitter ecosystem, the more revenue to be had.

It's a balancing act; you do not want to bring in a bunch of new users while chasing away the folks who are already there (which is why Musk is promising the formation of a content advisory council, and is also why he is not choosing to hastily restore any previously suspended accounts).



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Re: Elon isn't fucking around

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Nov 05, 2022 8:03 am

I should add the $44B price tag (inclusive of rollover equity) is excessively high for Twitter. Musk and his investor group are overpaying big time.

It's no wonder so much of the $44B is being funded with Musk's own money and that of other equity investors (such as Larry Ellison of Oracle fame, who has a knack for pissing away money simply because he has so much of it).

Banks were only willing to kick in $13B, which is an unusually low percentage of the total acquisition price for a leveraged buyout.

I would peg Twitter's enterprise valuation somewhere in the $20B to $30B range, likely on the lower half of that range given the current economic environment in which we find ourselves.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... story.html



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Re: Elon isn't fucking around

Post by Matt » Sat Nov 05, 2022 8:16 am

MotorCityRadioFreak wrote:
Fri Nov 04, 2022 11:49 pm
You have liberal crybabies in droves quitting Twitter. I predict profits go down at least 50% a year from now. If the people with blue check marks leave after being threatened to pay , it’s all over. Only right wing sycophants will pay. You can’t monetize everything, rich Elon bot.
FIFY


What's more pathetic: harassing an old man who is paying to do a radio show or supporting a grifter like Trump?

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Re: Elon isn't fucking around

Post by audiophile » Sat Nov 05, 2022 8:18 am

MotorCityRadioFreak wrote:
Sat Nov 05, 2022 5:47 am
audiophile wrote:
Sat Nov 05, 2022 4:45 am
I quit Twitter when they blocked links to certian newspapers. I kept the picture of the block notice.

I've seen several quit facebook and switch to twitter in the last few days.
Good, maybe they can stop trolling COVID articles with anti vaxxer garbage.
It wasn't related to Covid.


Ask not what your country can do FOR you; ask what they are about to do TO YOU!!

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