People seem to think one of three things about Elon Musk:
A) Musk is a typical rich asshole who only loves money.
B) Musk is a typical power hungry asshole who loves power and money is a side effect.
C) Musk is a big nerd who thinks he can solve big problems better than other people, and power and money are side effects.
I believe he's type C (Hopeful Nerd). So for that type of person, his positive return is solving the problem. He thinks he can fix social media. He thinks social media is a big problem. He thinks humans need to fix social media or they are fucked, just like if they don't get off oil they are fucked, and just like if they can't leave Earth they are fucked. Fundamentally, he does think humans are worth saving.
I would bet that the vast majority of people that choose to work with Elon believe he is type C (Hopeful Nerd) and believe in humanity as well. That's why they put up with all of his flaws and toxicity - because they believe in the cause and know it's a broken eggs == omelet situation.
Why does he have to be one of those things? None of them are mutually exclusive. You can be a big nerd with lots of money and a narcissistic power-hungry attitude. Just because you’re obsessed with money doesn’t mean you also don’t crave power (the two routinely go hand in hand as money is a form of power).
Well it's less that HE is mutually exclusive, it's more that the polarized social media world tends to see through these extreme lenses. And probably some days he's more one than the other.
I see you only listed three options but where's the fourth: D) Musk is the saviour of humanity and everything he does is perfect and in no way, shape or form subject to criticism.
> Even if all of that is true, I'd be surprised if Musk manages to make a positive return on his investment.
+1. It's hard to see how the ROI works out here. The price was 50% overvalued if not more, and Twitter has had severe problems with monetization.
On the other hand, Musk actually uses Twitter at scale unlike the previous management of the company. That might give him more insight into the possibilities than his predecessors.
I think it's about more than money for Musk. It's about influence and nudging the world closer to how it "ought to be". This is why wealthy people buy newspapers that will never make money. It's about power and influence.
And I agree with OP - all this will be forgotten when Twitter is considered an elite place to work in a few years. Love him or hate him, but the guy attracts really talented people that want to work with really talented people.
Great point. Bezos didn't buy WaPo to make money. But I think Bezos is far less idealistic than Musk. Personally, I don't like Bezos one bit, and not just because his rockets are shaped like dildos (though that does not help).
However good you are, if you pay way too much for something, you're worse than someone who just didn't overpay and made no other changes.