Coca-Cola, be careful musk

Producer/Associate Column

Written/Associate Senior Advisory Board Member Old Knife

Musk is the world's richest man, a tech maniac, and there are too many labels on him.

Some people even think that Musk's whimsical personality and unobstructed expression are still the world's first "comics". All in all, this 51-year-old man, full of fantasy charm, is more adventurous.

At the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Musk spoke on Twitter that he wanted to fight with Putin. From Musk's various speeches on Twitter, it can be seen that this man has a spirit of unbridled entertainment in his bones, he likes to express some shocking remarks and become the focus of public opinion on a global scale; on the other hand, from the deep-seated intrinsic motivation analysis, Musk has become a global celebrity, and he has a distinct proposition and opinion on world justice, politics and economy, he needs to express and even realize his value proposition, and influences his large number of fans.

For example, the internal logic of such a statement as a confrontation with Putin reflects Musk's political position in the Russo-Ukrainian War on the one hand; on the other hand, it also shows that Musk feels that the appropriate solution is like the chivalry of the Middle Ages, through the single challenge of two people, to avoid the harm of war to innocent people.

Can Musk buy Coca-Cola?

On the verge of becoming the owner of Twitter, Musk began to express his unruly remarks again, saying that he wanted to buy Coca-Cola.

At 8:56 Beijing time on the 28th, Musk tweeted, "Next I want to acquire Coca-Cola and add cocaine back in." As soon as the tweet was posted, it caused heated discussion among netizens.

Coca-Cola represents the American spirit, and Musk's underlying logic is that the American spirit must be free, and adding cocaine to Coca-Cola within the allowable range is the soul of Coca-Cola's freedom.

As of the close of trading on April 27, EST, Coca-Cola was quoted at $65.56 per share, with a latest total market capitalization of $283.9 billion.

Not long ago, a quarterly report released by Coca-Cola Company showed that the company achieved net revenue of $10.491 billion in the first quarter of 2022, an increase of 16% year-on-year (compared with the same period last year), exceeding market expectations of $9.83 billion; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was $2.793 billion, an increase of 24% year-on-year.

Musk's words may just be nonsensical "jokes." However, Coca-Cola is not Twitter after all, the market value and market influence are much larger than Twitter, and there are many shareholders, and Warren Buffett has been firmly holding it since he bought Coca-Cola shares in 1988. By the end of 2021, Warren Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, holds a 9.2 percent stake in Coca-Cola.

If Musk really wants to buy Coca-Cola, it is a bit difficult. Musk himself naturally knows it, so he doesn't have to take many of his comments on Twitter seriously.

Why buy Twitter?

Musk spent $45 billion to buy Twitter, well above market prices. Twitter's offering price was $41 when it went public in 2013, and by the beginning of March 2022, nine years later, the stock price had become $33, with shareholders losing heavily.

The head of an investment firm in the United States believes that "its stock price should not exceed $10 or $15." Goldman Sachs was also not optimistic about Twitter, saying that without Musk, its basic business would be worth $30 to $36 per share.

Butler Taylor, chairman of Twitter's independent board, agreed: "This transaction brings a huge cash premium, which we believe is the best way forward for Twitter's stakeholders." ”

Musk bought all of Twitter's shares for $54.20, well above the current price, leaving many Twitter shareholders ecstatic.

Why Musk bought Twitter at such a high price could not be purely to satisfy his desire for expression.

As an important platform for the dissemination of focused news, Twitter dominates the national dialogue every day. Musk buys Twitter, which is equivalent to having a great deal of voice.

Last year, Musk suffered a big loss in the guidance of public opinion.

As the world's richest man, although Musk is worth more than $290 billion, this wealth figure is only calculated by Musk holding Tesla (including other companies) stock, and Musk cannot liquidate as long as he does not sell the stock. Because Musk doesn't really hold more than $290 billion in cash, he doesn't have to pay taxes.

According to media reports, in 2019, Tesla paid Musk an annual salary of only $23,760, a monthly salary of about $2,000, did not get any income through the sale of stocks, the wife did not have income, and the two people also raised 7 children. If the US law is strictly followed, the US government will even reverse the poverty allowance and maternity allowance to Musk.

However, some politicians can't stand it.

On March 19, 2021, Senator Bernie of Vermont took the lead in launching a public opinion offensive against Musk on Twitter, saying that Musk and Bezos own more than 40% of the wealth of the bottom people combined.

In mid-to-late 2021, UN official Beasley repeatedly forced Musk to donate, saying that as long as Musk donated 2% of his wealth, that is, $6 billion, it could save 42 million lives.

Later, the wave of public opinion was very unfavorable to Musk.

Several politicians have called for a tax on billionaires, even if their stocks are not sold. In November 2021, the U.S. Congress began a tax discussion on billionaires, estimating that the first step would be to impose a $15 billion tax on Musk.

On November 2, 2021, Musk suddenly released Cao Zhi's "Seven Steps Poem" on Twitter with Chinese. Many people speculate that this may be Musk's innuendo of the US politicians' "too anxious" to force donations and taxes on themselves.

At the beginning of this year, Musk finally paid $11 billion in taxes, becoming the richest man in U.S. history, and the cashless Musk sold a large number of Tesla stocks.

On Twitter, Musk has more than 80 million followers, and musk clearly loves and hates Twitter based on this basis. On the one hand, any of his words and deeds above will usher in a mountain-like response and discussion, and this sense of satisfaction and presence is incomparable. However, on the other hand, as a superman, he is extremely vulnerable to "regurgitation" by Twitter. Any small adverse event about Musk will produce explosive proliferation, or even a scourge.

So, although Twitter is a non-profitable company, for Musk, the most popular man in the world at the moment, it is better to use it and control it.

On the other hand, some argue that Musk's purchase of Twitter may be synchronized with the layout for future political intentions.

Twitter's electoral influence on the president of the United States is extraordinary.

Trump has more than 88 million fans on Twitter, and 74 million votes in the election, even if Twitter brings Trump 10 million more votes, it is an artifact that determines victory or defeat.

Therefore, Twitter has an extremely obvious role in interfering in politics, Trump can take office as president, Twitter is indispensable, and after taking office, Trump is also extremely dependent on Twitter, completely bypassing the traditional American media and making Twitter rule the country.

Will Musk play Twitter badly?

On the morning of April 26 (the evening of April 25, US time), Musk's acquisition of Twitter was finally settled, and he immediately sent a message: "Partners, Twitter is ours!" ”

Musk's message is obviously a message to all Twitter users: Brothers, Twitter is all of us in the future, everyone can say whatever they want, absolute freedom of speech!

Musk describes himself as an "absolutist of free speech." During the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Musk was very dissatisfied with Twitter's ban on Russian media. Musk's own argument is: I certainly won't block russian news, and I won't do it unless I'm gunned. In March, he also launched a vote on Twitter, asking a wave of netizens what they thought of twitter's free speech. Judging from the voting results, Musk did poke the pain points of users.

Twitter, a 16-year-old global forum of speech, has long been criticized for its liberal democracy. Musk used this as an incision to claim that people should speak freely in reality and experience within the limits of the law.

But is there absolute freedom of speech in this world? All freedom is freedom under the control of absolute power. For example, if Musk becomes the owner of Twitter, will there be similar remarks on Twitter about Musk paying taxes and donating money?

In addition, if speech is completely laissez-faire and indiscriminate, the base of free speech will become a wide square full of rumors. The public's ability to distinguish between right and wrong is limited, and a lot of information is often wantonly advocated and even used because of the "absence" of the public. In addition, a large amount of information in the gray area may mislead the public's perception and even influence the development of some events. For a big name like Musk, if you have public opinion, you hope that the direction of public opinion is what you want to see.

That is to say, Twitter's ideology, public opinion orientation, and values will all conform to Musk's value orientation to a certain extent.

Who doesn't like Musk?

Twitter management didn't want to be acquired by Musk, and even launched a poison pill plan at one point to try to stop Musk. The so-called poison pill plan refers to "anti-acquisition measures for equity dilution". When a company encounters a hostile takeover, especially when the acquirer's shares have reached 10% to 20%, the company will issue new shares at a low price in order to retain its controlling interest. The purpose is to reduce the proportion of shares in the hands of the acquirer, that is, to dilute the equity, but also to increase the acquisition cost, so that the acquirer can not achieve the target of holding.

But Musk's will to buy Twitter is resolute, at any cost. And Twitter's shareholders were happy to see it happen, and the poison pill plan was finally ruined.

In a survey inside Twitter, about half of the employees were not optimistic about Musk's acquisition, arguing that "Musk's absolutist free speech is too extreme and runs counter to the healthy discussions advocated by Twitter; he has a negative impact on the company's minority environment." ”

In addition, after Musk's acquisition plan came out, the hashtag of "leaving Twitter" (#LeaveTwitter) appeared on Twitter, and many people put it into action. According to NBC, former U.S. President Barack Obama lost 300,000 followers almost overnight.

Last December, Time magazine was heavily criticized for naming Musk the "Person of the Year." CNN says almost no one can exert as much influence as Musk in industries like social media, space travel, autonomous driving, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence that could determine the future of the global economy.

All those who oppose Musk, and those who love him, the internal logic and reason I believe are the same. People who love Musk think he's free, crazy, and adventurous. People who also don't like Musk think that will extremism like Musk bring harm? In fact, will Musk's many technology companies, such as Starlink, have a huge uncontrollable impact on the future of mankind as a whole?