Elon Musk, was one of the richest man in the world, thanks to his shares at Tesla, Inc., the American multinational automotive and clean energy company.
From July 2019 to June 2020, Tesla reported four profitable quarters in a row for the first time, and this made it eligible for inclusion in the S&P 500. At that time, It was the largest company ever added, and the sixth-largest company in the index at the time of its inclusion.
While many considered Tesla "dramatically" overvalued, throughout 2020, the share price of Tesla increased 740%, and on January 26, 2021, its market capitalization reached $848 billion.
This made the valuation of Tesla more than the next nine largest automakers combined, and thanks to his shares, Musk became the richest man on Earth with a huge margin.
But things go south not long after that.
And Musk's Twitter acquisition made this worse.
It all started when Elon Musk considered buying Twitter, and eventually made that happen.
By becoming its "Chief Twit", Musk fired many of Twitter's employees, and made numerous changes internally, as well as externally.
The thing is, Musk simply dug a hole for himself.
Musk is said to have overpaid for Twitter, and that happened during the times when Tesla shares, which is Musk's main source of net worth, tanked. And when Musk tried to get out of the deal, citing Twitter's bot issues among others, he failed.
He was forced to borrow lots of money, and had no choice other than becoming the sole leader of what he claimed was a loss-making company.
Musk doesn't have the slightest idea of how to make Twitter work, even though he is one of the most followed people on the platform.
So here, he made changes after changes, and reverted one and the next.
His decisions were sometimes contradicting.
After firing many people who could actually run Twitter, Musk is left with a final decision: should he remain Twitter's leader?
He asked this in a poll, and most people on Twitter who voted said no.
Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
In the poll, Musk asked Twitter users if he should step down as head of the company. When the vote ended, 57.5% of them wanted him to step down, whereas 42.5% wanted him to stay.
"I will abide by the results of this poll," Musk noted in the poll.
So how can a man considered one of the richest ever, managed to transform the automobile industry and commercialize rockets, make a huge mess when reforming a social media platform that is an underdog if compared to Facebook or Instagram?
Musk, a restless genius who made PayPal possible, really knows what he's doing.
And with his success in leading some of the world's leading companies, he managed to also changed the world.
The thing is, Twitter is nothing like that.
To a lot of people, Musk is like a narcissistic man-child that craves for attention. And that his Twitter acquisition is his way of freeing "free speech."
Besides firing Twitter employees, he also reinstated former U.S. President Donald Trump, as well as rapper Kanye West, among others.
The question is not finding a CEO, the question is finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
Twitter is may be small, but the platform plays a significant role in the global public sphere.
And rather than dealing with launching millions of dollars-worth of rockets and researching on more capable AIs that can make autonomous driving more acceptable, Twitter is a town hall when humans and bots co-exist.
It's where government leaders and business people, as well as celebrities and athletes are gathered. It's where brands and influencers flourish, and a place where ordinary people are watching all the commotion made by their larger counterparts.
Just like how horror novelist Stephen King puts it, "Twitter ain’t cars. And Twitter ain’t rockets."
It's worth noting though, that Twitter polls are like straw polls, meaning they are informal and couldn't be compared to professional public opinion research. Malicious bots or inauthentic accounts may also be able to register a response to a Twitter poll.
Read: Silicon Valley Leaders Share Thoughts About Elon Musk Being The New Leader Of Twitter