By Azania Patel
Elon Musk’s time as Twitter CEO has been controversial.
Even before his purchase of the social media platform, the business magnate and investor was an avid Twitter user.
After a turbulent year online – and off – we have done the painstaking task of trawling through the Tesla billionaire’s feed, for high (and low) points in 2022.
Here is Elon Musk in tweets.
In January, he began 2022 with an exclamation to make the roaring 20’s happen. In retrospect, January was a precursor to the tech-billionaire’s Gatsby-esque year.
February saw Musk present SpaceX, his spacecraft technology firm’s product “Starship”.
The vehicle that had been launched remains a key part of Musk’s attempt to make life “multiplanetary” and colonize Mars.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Musk sent over Starlink terminals to Ukraine.
Starlink provided a broadband service into the conflict zone.
March saw Musk exit the $200b (£180b) club. After the global financial crisis, his net worth dipped below 200 billion dollars. March also saw him becoming the largest stakeholder in Twitter, with a 9.2 per cent stake in the company.
In April, Musk made an offer to buy Twitter for $43b (£35.45b), after declining an invitation to join the company’s board of directors.
While Twitter’s board unanimously accepted Musk’s buyout offer, he announced that the deal was on hold in May. He claimed this was due to the possibility that more than 5 percent of active Twitter users were spam accounts.
In June, Musk announced that he would be terminating the acquisition, while Twitter’s board stated that they would be using legal means to ensure the acquisition went forward. A tweet by Musk plummeted Bitcoin’s value as he indicated a potential break away from the major crypto firm.
July saw Twitter’s board file a court case to ensure acquisition and the billionaire responding brazenly to the the threats.
August had the CEO focusing on Tesla, his green energy and automobile brand. The company had its annual stockholders meeting, and Musk was vocal about the multiple new developments under way. However, with the legal enforcement of his Twitter acquisition looming, he sold nearly $7b (£5.78b) of Tesla stock. He continued to claim that Twitter had made fraudulent claims about spam users.
In September, Musk hosted Tesla AI day an event set to recruit engineers. He announced a humanoid prototype and a new Tesla cybertruck as the deadline for him to comply with his Twitter acquisition neared.
In October, the billionaire finally took over as Twitter CEO. A series of layoffs, controversial new polices and a plan to charge for Twitter verification began a reign of chaos that plummeted the values of both Twitter and Tesla. He also made controversial tweets regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict, drawing Ukrainian ire.
Advertisers continued to pull out of Twitter in November as Musk argued that the Twitter Blue system is democratic and pro-users. He also reinstated controversial Twitter accounts, such as that of Donald Trump, former US president. Trump’s account had been suspended due to a risk of him inciting violence following the American Capitol riots
Tesla stakeholders and financial authorities remain critical of Musk in December. US senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to the Tesla board raising concerns about Musk misusing company resources to bankroll Twitter. Following the backlash, Musk ran a poll asking users if he should resign as Twitter CEO. Over 57 per cent users voted yes. While not complying immediately, Musk stated that he would step down once he found a replacement.
As the year draws to a close, Twitter’s state remains in lurch. Values of all Musk holdings remain in a downward spiral, with Tesla investor saying “Customers don’t want their cars to be controversial.” With a year in tweets, controversy has remained the Elon Musk brand.
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