Explained: How to oust Elon Musk and save Twitter

SHARE:

Ever since Elon Musk took Twitter private for $44 billion, the debate around the social media platform has been vitriolic. There has been considerable angst about the direction Musk has been taking the company and his potential backpedalling on initial promises about free speech.

Musk’s takeover appeared to do much financial damage to the company, with many advertisers walking away. Although Musk claims Twitter is no longer on the “fast lane to bankruptcy”, one would argue that neither the former nor current ownership models look capable of making much money or benefiting society.

What follows is a proposal that would make Twitter more financially sustainable and move it back towards open speech, within limits. It would remove many of the problems related to anonymous and bot accounts while allowing Musk to recoup at least a substantial amount of his investment.

A new Twitter hybrid

This is not the first suggestion for an alternative ownership model for social media companies. Back in 2017, the Financial Times columnist Andrew Hill suggested ownership by a cooperative of users.

Twitter shareholders even voted on such a move at their annual meeting that year after it was tabled by tech activists James McRitchie and Steffen Sauerteig, though only those holding five per cent of the shares were in favour.

The cooperative model certainly has attractions. Many large-scale cooperatives owned by users have operated successfully for decades, such as German food retailer REWE and Japanese insurer Nippon Life.

Generally, however, cooperatives don’t appear to scale well outside certain industries and circumstances, and it is not clear the pure cooperative model is workable for a social media behemoth.

Instead, here is a proposal for a hybrid of a cooperative and a public company for Twitter. A ten-point plan:

  1. Twitter would be reformulated as B corporation, a newish type of company dedicated to working as a force for social good. Twitter would be committed to funnelling a fixed proportion of future dividends to the causes of democracy and free speech.
  2. Musk and his financial backers (who would of course have to back the deal) would be bought out via a combination of cash, loans and debt rollovers.
  3. Any individual or company with a Twitter account with minimum usage would receive one Twitter share. They would have a limited period such as three months to take possession. This would require the same legal identification procedure as on major stock exchanges.
  4. Anyone with an active account could purchase up to nine more shares at an IPO price to be determined. All share ownership would be public, with the “blue tick” system for verifying users replaced by an entry in users’ profiles showing their shareholdings.
  5. No user would hold more than ten Twitter shares. There might be an exception for companies or governments that wanted more than ten accounts, perhaps by giving them non-voting shares for the extra accounts or requiring all dividends from these accounts to be donated.
  6. Anyone wishing to join Twitter in future would have to purchase at least one share at the market price. There would be a specific class of “gratis” shares for certain pre-approved groups such as charities or NGOs so that they didn’t have to pay.
  7. Twitter shareholders could collectively form coalitions to vote with their shares as a block.
  8. Anyone closing their account would receive the market price for their shares.
  9. Anyone violating Twitter’s user policy — over hate speech, for example — would have their account suspended, including any claim to dividends. They could, however, sell their shares and close their accounts.
  10. To accommodate new users, the board would be able to increase the number of shares within limits. All other aspects of governance would be in accordance with the rules of B corps and the designated stock exchange used to transact shares. Advertising fees would be charged in line with current practices.

Many specifics would need to be worked out, of course. This is a better method of validation and certification than simply paying for a blue tick since one cannot remain anonymous to the organisation as an individual shareholder.

It removes the threat of fake accounts and gives users a formal say in company decisions. It brings Twitter back into public ownership, opening up its management and governance to scrutiny.

Users would be able to benefit financially and socially from the platform’s success. And it gives Musk a way to minimise his losses and exit Twitter easily and quickly.

Exit Musk

Currently, Twitter has approximately 250 million users. Supposing it was valued at $30 per share, the approximate price before Musk launched his bid, users would receive a share of $7.5 billion by being granted one share each. This would be added to the balance sheet as shareholders’ equity.

Supposing, on average, users bought an additional five shares at the IPO price, that too would be booked as shareholders’ equity, as well as giving the company $37.5 billion in cash. This may overestimate the level of buy-in, but it gives a working example of how it could play out.

Musk’s personal exposure at the time of the takeover was approximately $25 billion, with major banks lending him another $13 billion and wealthy investors like Oracle founder Larry Ellison and Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal buying stakes worth about $7 billion.

It is hard to imagine this group recouping its entire $44 billion since much of the cash raised through this IPO would be needed for operations. But this is more about minimising losses than maximising gains.

Also, there is a massive reduction in Musk’s wealth in the last year to consider — much of it from his other companies falling in value because investors were worried about the Twitter distraction. The prospect of Musk exiting Twitter to revive the fortunes of these other endeavours might sufficiently motivate him to accept a deal that minimises his losses.

So, Twitter is not a lost cause. With some ingenuity, it could become a public forum as needed. In the words of founder Jack Dorsey: “It’s critical that the people have tools to resist [government and corporate control], and that those tools are ultimately owned by the people.”The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Also Read

[TRENDING]_$type=ticker$count=9$cols=4$cate=0$color=#0096a9$sp=3500

[RECENT]_$type=list$author=hide$comment=hide$va=0

Name

'Badhaai Do' movie,1,'The Kerala Story',2,'Zeeshan Maggie Point',1,"kerala story",1,@preganest,1,accident,2,Actor Salman Khan,1,Actress Priyanka Chopra,1,Air India,1,Arjun Tendulkar,1,Arshia Goswami,1,Article,4,Barbed wire,1,Bhopal,3,Bike Rider Agastya Chauhan,1,bodyguard missbehave,1,Box Office Collection,1,Boxing Champion Mary Kom,1,Bundelkhand,1,Business,23,Chhatarpur,1,CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan,5,codecanyon,3,Comedian,1,Congress MLA Omkar Singh Markam,1,Controversial Movie,1,converting to Islam,1,couples goal,1,creativity,1,Crime news,1,Deadlifts 60 kg,1,Deendayal Antyodaya Rasoi Kendras,1,Delhi airport,1,Delhi metro,1,Development Scheme,1,Dhirendra Shastri,1,Disastrous Plastic Surgeries,1,District hospitals,1,Diwali a National Holiday,1,Donatella Versace,1,DPR,3,Dubai woman,1,Education / Employment,2,Eid Party,1,Eight-Year-Old,1,Elections 2024,2,Entertainment,14,Environment,1,Fashion,1,Female Engineer Uber Driver,1,Film 'Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan',1,Filmfare Awards 2023,1,first water metro,1,Food,2,Government,1,Hakuto-R,1,health sector,1,IIFA 2023,1,IIT Indore,1,India,1,India news,4388,Indian Muslim,1,Indian news,1,Indore,3,Indore court,1,instragram,1,IPL,1,IPL 2023,2,Kanya Vivah-Nikah Yojana,1,Katrina Kaif,1,Kochi,1,Latest news,1,Lifestyle,6,Lifstyle,1,loss of cat,1,Lucknow,1,Maa Kali',1,Madhya Pradesh,20,Mahakal lok,1,Mahakaleshwar temple,1,main,19,Man naked and garlanded with shoes,1,Mantralya,1,Men wearing skirt,1,Menstrual Hygiene Day 2023,1,Mexican Giant Turtle,1,MIT,1,mobile phone,1,modular kitchens,1,Moon,1,MP Weather Update,1,Mumbai,2,Munawwar Farooqui,1,National,162,National Paper Airplane Day 2023,1,Navlakha,1,News,1,Nick Jonas,1,Northeastern University,1,Nothing Phone (1),1,Pennsylvania,1,pet parrots,1,plants mango saplings,1,PM Narendra Modi,3,politics,1,PTI – The Siasat Daily,3,Rachit Agarwal,1,Rashid rover,1,Realme Narzo N53,1,record-breaking century,1,renewable energy sector,1,Royal deaths,1,Rs 70 lakh,1,Russia Ukraine ongoing conflict,1,Sagar,1,salman khan,1,Sanatan Dharma,1,Sara Tendulkar,1,Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Park,1,Shah Rukh Khan,1,Shah Rukh Khan's Airport Video goes viral,1,Shalini's Unconventional Divorce Photoshoot,1,Shubam Gill,1,Shubham Gill,1,Six-month-old Infant Dies,1,Social Dynamics,1,social media,1,South Actresses,1,South Africa,1,South Indian Comedian,1,Spending husband's money,1,Sports,16,Summer Season,1,Tarek Fatah,1,Tech,3,Temples,1,Trending,1,tweet,1,Ujjain,1,Ukraine Defence Ministry,1,University of Glasgow,1,US-Canada Border,1,US-India Visa,1,Vicky Kaushal,1,video viral,2,viral video,3,Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir,2,Water crisis,1,WiFi,1,Wildlife,1,Wired Food Combinations,1,World News,2100,youtuber,1,
ltr
item
Explained: How to oust Elon Musk and save Twitter
Explained: How to oust Elon Musk and save Twitter
https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/000_336Y243.jpg
ASE News
https://www.asenews.page/2023/01/explained-how-to-oust-elon-musk-and.html
https://www.asenews.page/
https://www.asenews.page/
https://www.asenews.page/2023/01/explained-how-to-oust-elon-musk-and.html
true
8343353446356446311
UTF-8
Loaded All Posts Not found any posts VIEW ALL Readmore Reply Cancel reply Delete By Home PAGES POSTS View All RECOMMENDED FOR YOU LABEL ARCHIVE SEARCH ALL POSTS Not found any post match with your request Back Home Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat January February March April May June July August September October November December Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec just now 1 minute ago $$1$$ minutes ago 1 hour ago $$1$$ hours ago Yesterday $$1$$ days ago $$1$$ weeks ago more than 5 weeks ago Followers Follow THIS PREMIUM CONTENT IS LOCKED STEP 1: Share to a social network STEP 2: Click the link on your social network Copy All Code Select All Code All codes were copied to your clipboard Can not copy the codes / texts, please press [CTRL]+[C] (or CMD+C with Mac) to copy Table of Content