Elon Musk, media baron

Hey y’all, it’s Austin Carr in Boston. Elon Musk is treating Twitter like a dying newspaper. But first…Today’s must-reads:• Elizabeth Holmes [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hey y’all, it’s Austin Carr in Boston. Elon Musk is treating Twitter like a dying newspaper. But first… Today’s must-reads: • Elizabeth Holmes was [sentenced to 11 years in prison]( • Scrutiny in the FTX scandal [turned to the Bahamas]( • The US is [probing Ticketmaster’s parent company]( The Twitter Times In the first three weeks after [Elon Musk took over Twitter Inc.](, the 51-year-old billionaire [fired top executives](, instituted [sweeping job cuts](, lost [major advertisers](, discouraged [remote work](, instituted more [extreme]( productivity expectations, offered buyouts to employees, meddled in the [editing process]( and warned of the [potential for bankruptcy](. Seen one way, the series of events is extraordinary and unprecedented: The world’s most successful technology entrepreneur buys one of the most influential social media companies, quickly sabotages some of its best qualities and drives out much of its brightest talent. Seen through a different lens, Musk is just the latest wannabe media mogul torturing his new plaything. Here in the news business, this is all perfectly normal. A controversial new owner of a once-mighty media empire who imposes draconian [cost reductions](, staff [ultimatums]( and [incessantly shifting priorities](? These are the hallmarks of a classic leveraged buyout. In Musk’s first month at the helm, his moves have the air of aggression he exhibits at Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., but his results so far are more akin to what happened with Forbes after it started publishing articles from unpaid contributors. In media, publishers are forever caught between delivering what’s best for their news readers and for their investors. Perhaps you’re aware of some of the more infamous case studies, from [Alden Global Capital acquiring the Chicago Tribune]( to Great Hill Partners [purchasing Gawker and Gizmodo](. This usually results in a war between new managers and the [rank and file](, the latter group often trying to maintain [editorial quality]( as the new owners push staff to do more with less. A common way to downsize in media is through [buyouts](, typically by offering an optional severance package to higher-salaried veteran talent who leave with important institutional knowledge. This tactic isn’t unheard of in tech: The late Tony Hsieh [used to offer four-figure payouts]( for employees to quit Zappos if they weren’t committed to the mission. It’s becoming more common now. Coinbase Global Inc. used [buyouts to weed out woke workers](. Amazon.com Inc., which owns Zappos, will use [buyouts to help trim headcount](. At Twitter, the buyouts — which appear to have [worked a little too well]( — are part of a complete package that uniquely parallels a struggling newspaper business. The social-media service, after all, has long had a semi-symbiotic relationship with journalism. Reporters are addicted to it and depend on it for self-promotion. Twitter, meanwhile, benefited from the legitimacy news organizations conferred on the brand, as well as the breaking news and insider gossip that it gets essentially for free. Under Musk, Twitter’s relationship with the press quickly grew strained. He has stereotyped journalists as monolithic [media elites]( clinging to their precious [blue check marks]( and acting as [gatekeepers to the world’s information](. (Reminder: The news business has suffered a [decades-long decline](, and Musk is the richest person on earth.) Musk has committed to [making Twitter]( “by far the most accurate source of information around the world” while [promoting widely debunked articles]( and slipping into [obvious misinformation pitfalls]( like a managerial Mr. Magoo. Musk is now throwing around a favorite phrase of the clueless media baron: “[citizen journalism](.” The way Musk describes his plan to Patch.com up Twitter sounds a lot like what the editor [Lewis D'Vorkin]( helped institute at Forbes. The news website, which is a competitor to Bloomberg News, houses a free-for-all of loosely vetted content sitting alongside reporting from the magazine’s seasoned staff writers — a dynamic that has sullied the brand. The Forbes owner failed to pull off a reverse merger last year and is now in talks for a sale that is expected to fall short of its target price, according to [Reuters](. That’s perhaps an ominous sign of what the future holds for Twitter under Musk. —[Austin Carr](mailto:acarr54@bloomberg.net) Today in Twitter Elon Musk polled his followers on whether to [reinstate former US President Donald Trump](’s account. Musk summoned software engineers to a company meeting in San Francisco on Friday to [review code](. Volkswagen set up accounts on Mastodon, the Twitter rival [most benefiting from the chaos](. Get fully charged A 17-year-old died by suicide after taking sodium nitrate [he ordered on Amazon](. Grindr is now a public company after [shares of the gay dating app tripled]( on Friday. Klarna, a European buy now, pay later provider, blamed investor sentiment for its [inability to expand faster](. Investors see Indian esports as a [potential growth market](. Want more on video games? [Sign up for Game On](, a weekly newsletter, and take a tour through the strategy games renaissance of 2022. 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