Is This the End of Twitter?

Musk or no Musk – WE must fight on!

Elon Musk is reportedly pulling out of the Twitter deal citing bad, possibly fake data on Twitter’s part. If so, some say this could be the end of Twitter. The entire platform could crash and burn. We cannot let that happen. But first, what does all this have to do with GOD or the Republic?

The answer is clear to me. As self-governing citizens gifted by God Almighty with this nation, we are also charged with great responsibility. We are to hold those we choose to represent us and carry out the functions of government accountable and steer them in the discharge of their duties. Likewise, we have economic freedom per our free market system. As we’ve stepped aside to allow the “political professionals” handle government, we’ve allowed the “financial professionals” to handle the economic side. This includes allowing holding companies and mutual funds almost total control over the markets. In doing so we have no direct say in how these companies are run. This needs to change.

Like government, corporations need to be held accountable. Obviously we cannot continue to allow this accountability to rest solely in hands of government entities. As we’ve seen time and time again, disaster follows. We need to take a more direct approach. In this case, buying and holding stock in our corporations directly. This gives us the leverage we need to directly influence corporate decisions and make corrections when necessary.

Consider Twitter. The platform by rights should be a bastion of free speech. It is America’s soapbox. It was deemed very effective in helping Donald J. Trump become President. He was banned after he left office so, apparently his detractors agree. This platform has literally and symbolically become the exact opposite of a platform for free speech. Now it is mostly a force for regulated speech. It does not matter so much WHO regulates the speech. ANY infringement is wrong.

Some will argue the above statement implies anyone can say anything. In fact, it is true. But! Someone will interject, everyone knows you cannot yell fire in a crowded theater! Silly. Of course you can. First, if there is a fire, one may well want to inform everyone. Second, if there is no fire one can still yell “fire”. However there will be consequences. And there is the difference.

While we are free to speak, such freedom does not mean we are free to harass, intimidate or threaten without recourse. Just with any of our liberties, our God-given rights, we are not free to threaten or do harm to another. The right to carry a gun does not, in any way, convey any right to shoot anything we so desire.

As far as Twitter is concerned, I feel this platform is worthwhile if utilized properly and that means returning it to embrace the principles of free speech. As such, I’ve always felt a bit uneasy with the idea of Elon Musk or any one person or group at the help. If Twitter is to be the platform of the People, then it should be held by We the People. It would be best if We all owned a piece. As Twitter is a “publicly held” corporation, then we citizens can and should hold it.

Concerning practical matters, the capitalization (i.e. the total money involved) of Twitter is massive. Musk spent billions to obtain somewhere in the neighborhood of 9%. Also, in order to have any influence at all on Twitter’s workings, one must control about 3%, if memory serves correct. Let’s look at some figures. Don’t worry, I’m doing the math so it will be simple.

Let’s call Musk’s stake 10% for the sake of easy math. The value was pegged at $44 billion. Now this amount changes as the stock price fluctuates, but lets go with that as even cutting these figures in half won’t matter to most of us money-wise. So one percent would cost about $4.4 billion. Multiply that by three for our 3% and you’ve got about $13 billion. I can’t say for you but my own piggy bank is sure to come up a little short on that. So what to do?

Unite! We can pool our resources. If fact, it is somewhat easy to do because as stockholders we have one vote for every share of stock we own. When a vote comes up, we can assign our votes to any one individual by proxy. Now here’s where things get interesting. No stockholder owes any single person or entity any loyalty whatsoever. Nor is there any limit to the number of groups that can form nor any limitations about how they form. Let your mind play with this.

With the power of today’s internet technology, we can form alliances in a myriad of ways and communicate instantly. Theoretically, we could use the Twitter platform to expand this concept to control any number of corporations. But let’s stick to Twitter for now. What I am advocating is for us common, lowlife, deplorable citizens to buy Twitter stock. We can then form or join a group of like-minded shareholders with a goal to gather enough votes to influence some changes.

What about timing? Most people, when “investing” in a stock (I’m not talking so much here about investing, at least with the aim of making a profit from a rising stock price.) worry about losing their money. In fact, with the way things are with Twitter now, this is a distinct possibility. My ten shares could end up worth nothing at all should the company go defunct. I was willing to take that chance when I made my purchase and I’m standing by my decision. You will need to decide for yourself.

To that end I see no urgency at the moment. If Musk does indeed back out of his stated intent and divest himself of his holdings instead of moving forward with his purchase, things could get quite dicey. The stock is sure to tumble. There would likely be a massive shakeout of the current board and management of the corporation. I see this last as a good thing. These fools need to go, especially if massive fraud or other irregularities are involved. Keep in mind, if Twitter is infiltrated with the number of bots Musk alludes to, it could be devastating to their advertising revenue.

At this point, Twitter’s performance is rather bland. While the earnings per share increased in the first quarter compared to the Q4 of 2021 (0.77 vs 0.17), how will the revelation of the number of bots affect the new earnings report? Put another way, if you were spending advertising dollars with somebody only to find out that a large number of those reached were fake… how would you feel? The good news is they do seem to be turning a profit, albeit a small one. While I believe the unrealized potential is huge, will it ever be realized?

Again, my perspective is not so much that of an investor, however in any public stock company, the value of the stock much depends on the confidence of those who own it. If the company loses favor with enough investors, the stock price will tank. This is not necessarily a bad thing as it makes the stock more affordable for mugs like us.

For those of you interested in becoming involved as a shareholder, feel free to subscribe to this newsletter. That part won’t cost you a dime. Just keep in mind, I am not offering “investment advice”, though I may toss in my opinion should I feel the price has bottomed out or is otherwise a time to buy. At my own holdings stand today, I’m in the red. I’m not selling, nor am I hoping the price will magically rise so I can take a profit. We’re talking ten shares here. They could go up 1000% and still amount to a piddling. At this point I’m fine with what I’ve got. Should the landscape change dramatically, i.e. the price gets down to bargain basement levels, I might increase my holdings and thus the number of votes I have, but let’s face facts – if the price drops to o.oo1 cent per share, I don’t think I’d be able to buy a significant amount percentage wise to wield any influence. For me it’s a matter of putting my money where my mouth is.

How about you?