Monday, April 25, 2022

The Mark of the Billionaire

 
by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

News sources and social media sites are reporting this morning that it looks as though Twitter's eleven-member board is preparing to sell their company to billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.   He is offering $54.20 a share for the social media company, or a total of around $43 billion.

Elon Musk, who just this year was promoted to the top of Forbe's list of the world richest individuals, has said that if he gains control of Twitter he will decrease the amount of content moderation that is currently exercised over the platform, a move that many fear will create a more dubious, and perhaps even more dangerous, environment - such as the dark days of just a couple of years ago when Donald Trump was using his personal and presidential accounts to spread falsehoods and dangerous propaganda aimed at subverting democracy and promoting his own material wealth.

Musk is CEO of SpaceX, a company that he founded in 2002 to manufacture and launch advanced rockets and spacecraft.  He is also the CEO of Tesla, a company that he helped found in 2003 to develop electric vehicles.  Twitter will represent his first major move into the social media market, a move that will give him increased influence over the world's topics of conversation and the ways that people view and react to the world.  

Elon Musk has bought his way into the exploration of space, he is developing a big stake in environmentally friendly ground transportation, and now he is on the verge of grabbing a big piece of how we communicate. At this point the ambitious billionaire seems very intent on putting his mark on the future of the planet.  He is literally defining the world that our grandchildren and their grandchildren will inhabit - and we mere mortals are relegated to watching and hoping he makes wise choices.



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