Chloe Gerhard | Writer
January 20, 2023
Elon Musk’s wealth and personality have put him on a pedestal that seems to be cracking, forcing us to wonder if his wealth or fame will survive much longer. Musk has gone from the wealthiest man in the world to one of the most infamous. Over the last two decades, Musk’s wealth grew through his development of companies like Paypal, Space X, and Tesla. His fame and name recognition grew alongside these companies. In 2021, Musk was named the wealthiest man in the world, with a $340 billion fortune.
By 2023, Musk not only lost his title as the wealthiest man in the world, but he also broke a new record: Musk was the first person to ever lose $200 billion in wealth. How does one man lose $200 billion in wealth almost overnight? Economists point to two reasons, one being Tesla, and the other being Twitter. In 2022, Tesla’s stock plunged by 65%. Buyers were looking to other car companies for gas-guzzling alternatives. Other options were now available and consumers were taking notice, reducing Tesla’s control of the market. Then, in October 2022, Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion. In order to have the money to make the purchase, Musk sold $22 billion in Tesla stock, hurting the value of the company as a result. In fact, Tesla has now lost $705 billion since Musk started selling stocks to invest in Twitter. Unfortunately for Musk, Twitter is also losing revenue and its future remains uncertain.
Why is one of the largest social media platforms nose-diving? Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” fired Twitter staff content moderators tasked with policing misinformation, hate speech, and dangerous propaganda as soon as he took control. Overnight, hate speech and misinformation began to spread across the platform. As a result, not only users, but advertisers have jumped off the sinking ship that is Musk’s Twitter, not wanting to associate with it. In fact, it is projected that 3 million users will leave Twitter in the next two years. In addition, Twitter makes 90% of its profit from advertisements and advertising revenue has gone down 40% just within this last year.
“He can’t just fire people that are essential to what is the minimum amount of moderation,” said junior Sophia Miller.
Within the last few years, Musk has made numerous comments, hindering his public image. In 2020 at the beginning of the spread of COVID-19. Musk tweeted that the panic over the unknown virus is “dumb.” He did not stop here with his bold remarks on the recent global government. Musk has used his large social media to spread misinformation and called the US lockdown mandates “fascist.” Musk also fully endorsed controversial celebrity Kanye West in his bid for the presidency. Junior Bella Dahlquist gave her take on Musk’s recent choices, stating, “Elon Musk naming his kid X AE A-Xii is annoying and pretentious.”
With all of Musk’s recent image debacles and financial downfalls, is it even possible to repair himself to his former state? In the current climate of branding, influencers, and cancel culture, it is almost impossible to separate the person from the brand. The “Elon Musk” brand is in free fall, but brands can be turned around. It may depend upon whether Musk wants to or not.
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