Elon Musk is still trying to change things around at Twitter and make it profitable but it’s not going too well for him.
Twitter is now worth around $15 billion, whereas Musk bought it for $44 billion just six months ago.
READ MORE: Elon Musk wants to rebrand Twitter and replace it with the ‘everything app’
There are a few reasons for this, starting with the fact that, by his own admission, Musk actually overpaid for the platform.
In a recent interview with the BBC, Musk said his initial $44b offer was based on data provided by Twitter.
However, a deeper and more careful ‘look under the hood’ revealed that the social media platform had way more bots than anticipated.
Musk compared fake accounts and bots to ‘damaged goods’.
“[Think of Twitter] as a warehouse full of goods. The seller tells you about 10 percent of the goods are broken,” Musk told the BBC. “But then you inspect the goods and find out it’s more than 10 percent.”
Musk told the interviewer he was no longer interested in buying Twitter “at that price”, but was forced to do it to avoid legal backlash.
The tech billionaire has since been tweaking the platform with a trial-and-error method.
Among other things, Musk changed the algorithm and the verification system.
Three types of checkmarks are now available, including the blue one that anybody can buy with a monthly plan.
The yellow tick is given to official businesses, while the grey one is given to government officials and government organizations.
Below, left to right: blue, grey and yellow checkmark for Twitter subscription, government organization or person, official business
As a public company, Twitter stock’s value is impacted by a myriad of things, including the overall state of the market, which isn’t great at the moment.
However, Musk’s controversial and eccentric management style also contributes to Twitter’s stock price ups and downs.
Musk stepped down as Twitter CEO a while ago but he’s still the platform’s most-followed person with over 140 million followers.
This too, for better or worse, has an effect on the value of Twitter.
