Elon Musk addressed some of the mounting criticism over his takeover of Twitter on Monday.
Key Details
- Elon Musk virtually spoke at the B20 Summit in Bali on Monday, preceding this week’s G20 Summit. He was one of the conference’s most anticipated speakers.
- He addressed his ongoing issues and goals with Twitter—that he hopes to improve video options and create user revenue opportunities while making the platform less restrictive to speech.
- “There’s no way to make everyone happy, that’s for sure,” says Musk.
- He purchased Twitter on October 28 and his short tenure has already faced weeks of chaos and uncertainty as large portions of the staff are laid off and advertisers back away from the company, leaving it fearing revenue issues and potential bankruptcy.
Why it’s News
Musk’s appearance made it clear that he is struggling to maintain his grasp on his newly acquired social-media platform while maintaining his life. He is managing Twitter, SpaceX, and Tesla at the same time while facing external pressures and lawsuits.
“I’m not sure how many people would actually like to be me,” he says.
“He had been expected to attend the event in person, but Indonesian government minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who’s responsible for coordinating preparations for the summit, said Musk could not attend because he’s preparing for a court case later in the week,” the Associated Press reports.
The Problem
Musk is one of the most demanding CEOs in the U.S. but he has always been able to depend on his visionary environmental ideas and space travel goals to inspire his engineers. This same attitude combined with Twitter’s lack of vision appears to drain the company’s resolve.
“Musk has a well-earned reputation for being among the most demanding and capricious bosses in the history of corporate America. Past and present employees tell of being assigned tasks with cost or timeline objectives that seem impossible, often with their jobs hanging in the balance. At SpaceX and Tesla, many employees have been willing to suffer Musk because they consider the missions to be greater than themselves,” says Axios.
“Musk’s career has been about making something out of nothing. At Twitter, he appears to be doing the opposite,” Axios continues.
