July 10, 2022

Illustration: Christopher T. Fong/Protocol; Getty Images
Good morning! Mark Zuckerberg once said of Twitter that it was “such a mess — it’s as if they drove a clown car into a gold mine and fell in.” A man who started a tunneling company might be the one to finally get them out, if only he could manage to get out of his own way.
It was the season finale we all expected. Elon Musk is, of course, trying to back out of his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter and take it private.
From the moment Musk made the offer, there were skeptics. Just a few days earlier, he had withdrawn his commitment to join Twitter’s board. Even amid that turmoil, though, Musk seemed truly interested in seeing the buyout through to the finish line. But when he started mentioning “bots” and “DAUs,” it became increasingly clear that Musk was once again inviting us into the chaos that seems to sustain the world’s richest man on a daily basis.
Now, we all await the second season. Who doesn’t love a courtroom drama, especially one that takes place in the Delaware Court of Chancery?
It’s just all so stupid. It was easy trying to write off the saga as one that elicited more attention than was likely warranted. Just an attempt by the media and talking heads on TV to capitalize on one of the globe’s most divisive individuals buying what has become a cherished but flawed platform for reporters and pundits alike.
But perhaps most disappointing is that Musk could have really helped Twitter. He deserves most, if not all, of the criticism levied at him. He’s an egomaniac who gets a sick enjoyment out of pissing people off over quite heinous things. But Musk is also a visionary. At least, enough of one to earn him an invite to the Met Gala and hobnob with Kris Jenner.
At the same time, he’s pushed worthless tokens to a susceptible audience he knows hangs on his every word, made light of child molestation in an attempt to ruin the reputation of a random man who dared criticize him and reportedly threatened to evict his first wife while she was pregnant.
Still, Twitter could have benefitted from some of the ideas Musk seems to gravitate toward. And while the company may have already been plotting some of them, guidance from the several-times-over CEO-and-founder might have helped Twitter make an even more clean break from the Jack Dorsey days.
It wasn’t totally clear the revamped leadership team was willing to make the changes that might help it escape the near-constant scrutiny from investors, even with that appointment.
We may never know what a Musk-run Twitter would look like. But rest assured, we’ll still keep talking about it. That is, until Musk brings us along to his next series pilot.
Thinking outside your wall: How the path to net zero requires a new approach to collaboration and knowledge sharing: The emissions that make up a full greenhouse gas footprint can emanate from outside the four walls of your own manufacturing operations, like in the case of PepsiCo, where 93% of emissions come from its value chain.
After Salesforce bought integration company MuleSoft, it faced its own integration challenge — Aisha Counts
Cybersecurity teams need to fill jobs and improve diversity. They’ll need entry-level roles to get there. — Kyle Alspach
There’s a secret hub for fintech talent: Look south — Veronica Irwin
The Supreme Court’s EPA ruling is bad news for tech regulation, too — Ben Brody
Kraken CEO defends his ‘back to dictatorship’ crackdown — Ben Pimentel
In its battle with Big Tech, the CFPB is building an army of engineers — Issie Lapowsky
How lax social media policies help fuel a prescription drug boom — Hirsh Chitkara
The West’s drought could bring about a data center reckoning — Lisa Martine Jenkins
Thinking outside your wall: How the path to net zero requires a new approach to collaboration and knowledge sharing: Asking suppliers and associated companies to overhaul the way they work is no small feat, but PepsiCo is taking a three-pronged approach centered around the principles of educating, enabling and incentivizing. The Sustainability Action Center aims to engage and equip value chain partners with tools to undergo their own sustainability journey.
Thoughts, questions, tips? Send them to our tips line, tips@protocol.com. Enjoy your day, see you tomorrow.
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