Overview
Elon Musk, the outspoken and ambitious entrepreneur, is no strange name to those that follow him in the tech world. Musk and his companies have been known to push boundaries, create and tackle challenges. With his budding presence on Twitter, one cannot help but wonder, how much of the company does Musk actually own?
To start, it would be beneficial to understand the significance of the company to begin with. Twitter is a social media platform founded in 2006 and rapidly grew in popularity. It has since become one of the most popular social media sites in the world with over 320 million active users as of 2020. With marketing, one can place ads, create content and efficiently interact with vast amounts of potential customers.
Despite this relevance, Musk himself only holds 0.06% of the company’s total stock. As Twitter is a multi-billion dollar public corporation, this translates to an ownership of a mere $7 million. He received these stock grants as a payment for his role as an advisor to the company. Now, as of October 2020, Musk stepping down from this role and replaced by former US congressman, Jesse Jackson.
Hyperlinked Presence
While Musk does not possess much of the stock of Twitter, his Twitter presence makes up for his fiscal restrictions. His influence is felt significantly on the platform, with his highly intriguing and quipped posts gaining a lot of attention from various users on Twitter. He uses this platform quite often to express thoughts on different companies, push for his plans like colonizing Mars or introducing Neuralink, and interact with people.
His presence has had a noticeable effect, previously causing Tesla stock prices to spike after a series of tweets on his long-term plan to take the company private. He also has the most number of followers with a staggering 48.2 million followers, out of which two were appointed by Twitter.
Reasons for Investing
It is interesting to make comparisons of Musk’s relatively small ownership percentage of the company with Zuckerberg’s larger investment in Facebook. It seems that Musk values the idea of influencing companies without necessarily owning them. His investments are based more on the utilities of the companies and what he can gain from them. As a result, he prefers only investing in those companies that he may find useful, unlike Zuckerberg.
Thus, his small but efficient stock grants in Twitter may be a better alternative to ownership as it gives him a direct line of opportunities and options. He may also be looking to make some wild gains with his stock appreciation or use Twitter as an advertising platform. In either case, this investment strategy undoubtedly meets his needs and helps him along his innovative pursuits.
Whistle Blowing
Recently during the month of October, Musk disclosed his accounts related to Twitter and his intentions of disconnecting with the company. His rise to influence also left some question marks about his activities in the company. The disclosures included pointing to his part-time status and compensation for being a part of the company, showing how he mostly serves as a resource.
As expected, he further laid out the details of his payments, which led to calls from experts to check into the business practices of the company. These paid consulting agreements were heavily scrutinized and ultimately resulted in the re-structuring of an advisory board for Twitter.
Analyzing Tesla’s Relationship to Twitter
It is clear that Tesla and Twitter have different human resource strategies. Tesla, on the other hand, relies heavily on outside resources such as Musk and his business associates. Although it is beneficial to bring outside experience into the company, relying on such resources can be risky as they are outside of the company’s control and may choose to leave such as Musk did.
The relationship between Tesla and Twitter is apparently not directly correlated. In the past, Tesla has used Twitters’ advertising platform, however, Tesla currently does not do much in the way of utilizing Twitter’s platform. Although Musk did resign from the advisory role, he still maintains an active presence which can be beneficial, but he is no longer bound by obligations of a contracted pay.
Implications and Potential Prospects
While Musk’s ownership of Twitter is a mere 0.06 percent of the company, it would be wrong to suggest that he has a close association to the company. Having not been in a direct role, his experience and presence may still have a meaningful impact. Musk is known to be an innovative thinker, and his role as a consultant could prove to be invaluable.
Musk’s involvement and stock in Twitter are minute, however the energy he brings to the platform cannot go unmentioned. His ability to amass so many tweets without a single post of bought ads suggests that he has a grip on the matter of influential marketing and social media. His experience and presence may help Twitter in the days to come, that is if he decides to continue being a part of the company.
Social Media Impact
Given Musk’s high influence, it would be wrong to disregard the impact he has had on social media. His trademark uncanny and witty tweets have made him a full-time phoenix among tech enthusiasts, investors, and everyone else that keeps up with the tech world. When he has something to say, it would be wise to not just listen, but to pay attention. Companies like Tesla have seen its stock prices jump due to his presence and words alone.
Not to mention, Elon Musk’s presence and impact also extends to other social media such as Instagram and YouTube. His presence here can be used as a platform to promote his projects as well as solicit ideas and engagement from fans. He recently launched a YouTube video of him discussing the technology start-up Neuralink and its groundbreaking mission, which has attracted thousands of subscribers.
Concluding Thoughts
It may be stated that Twitter is an entity in itself, however Musk still has a very essential role when it comes to the company’s progress. His stock grant is neither big enough nor small enough to be of any worry, however, when it comes to his presence, nothing can be taken lightly.
Musk’s footprint on Twitter and social media continues to grow, and with increase it seems that his influence will further expand. It can not be downplayed how impactful his tweets have been in the past, as his posts can both affect decisions as well as give an insight into the tech innovator’s plans.
