Days after appointing new Twitter CEO, Elon Musk in an interview said the move will allow him to devote more time to Tesla but he will continue to be his original and unfiltered self on the platform, even if it comes at the cost of his business.
Musk was quizzed if he thought his controversial tweets potentially hurt Tesla shares or made it harder for him to sell ads on Twitter.
“I don’t care,” said Musk during a CNBC interview, adding, “I’ll say what I want to say and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it.”
Musk has been known for making controversial statements on Twitter that have serious ramifications for his multi-billion-dollar companies.
Musk and the 420 controversy
In 2018, Musk said he was mulling a buyout of Tesla for $420 per share which eventually led to a class-action lawsuit against him. Shareholders who traded the company’s stock after the tweet, sued the executive for billions of dollars in damages.
However, during a court testimony later, Musk clarified that his price offer wasn’t meant to be a marijuana reference.
“420 was not chosen because of a joke; it was chosen because there was a 20 percent premium over the stock price,” said Musk, adding, “There is some, I think, karma around 420. I should question whether that is good or bad karma at this point.”
“I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter! @LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology. Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app,” tweeted Musk, welcoming her.
Yaccarino is the top advertising sales executive at NBCUniversal. A month prior to her elevation as the top Twitter boss, she had interviewed Musk at an advertising conference in Miami.
“I’ve long been inspired by [Musk’s] vision to create a brighter future. I’m excited to help bring this vision to Twitter and transform this business together!” she said after the formal announcement.
Before NBCUniversal, Yaccarino worked as an executive vice president/COO of advertising sales, marketing and acquisitions at Turner. She joined NBCU in 2011, after 15 years at Turner Entertainment.
(With inputs from agencies)
