Elon Musk's Next Move Just Might Blow Your Mind
It's finally happening. Elon Musk is buying Twitter (TWTR) .
According to the social media company, Musk "can and should" close the deal next week. On Thursday afternoon, a Delaware judge halted Twitter's litigation against Musk in order to allow the deal to close.
Musk was always going to buy Twitter. Any feigned buyer's remorse on his part was simply an attempt to acquire the social media company at a discount. On April 15, I suggested methods Musk might use in order to lower his buying price.
Why is Twitter so important to Musk? The Tesla CEO has a penchant for thinking big. Recently, he referred to Twitter as an "accelerant to creating X, the everything app." According to one of Musk's tweets, he can accelerate his vision for X by three to five years by purchasing Twitter.
Musk hasn't shared his vision for X, but I'm sure he's thinking big. In addition to traditional social media, I imagine it will include a search engine, a YouTube-like video platform, video games, a Reddit-style platform and a streaming service, a la Netflix NFLX.
Now imagine all those features interacting seamlessly. X would have an ecosystem, similar to the way Apple (AAPL) attracts consumers with an iPhone, then offers apps, a Watch, Music and Apple TV +.
Imagine Twitter users getting a discount on a new Tesla, and Tesla drivers getting a discount on X's streaming radio service -- perhaps something similar to Spotify (SPOT) or SiriusXM (SIRI) . The radio service offers tickets to a manned space flight on SpaceX. There's no end to the potential synergies.
X could challenge Meta Platforms (META) for dominance in the metaverse. It could sell products online like Amazon (AMZN) . In short, it could take on the world by being "the everything app," and it could win by providing everything under one banner.
If all this seems too much, keep in mind we're talking about a person who builds and sells electric cars, launches satellites into space, digs massive tunnels underground and is developing an interface between computers and the human brain. Say what you will about Musk, but he doesn't do anything half-way, and he's not afraid to multi-task.
Once everything is up and running to Musk's satisfaction, he can take X public. When he does, it will bear little resemblance to the company he's purchasing today.
Is Twitter worth the price Musk is paying for it? Based on its performance, probably not.
On its first day of trading, in November 2013, the stock closed at $44.90. On Thursday, Twitter closed at $49.39. If not for Musk's deal, the stock would likely trade below its initial public offering price.
Musk isn't paying $44 billion for Twitter. He's paying $44 billion to accelerate his vision for X.
That tells me Musk envisions X as the biggest company of all time.
At the time of publication, Ponsi was long AAPL.