Elon Musk tell BBC say e bin dey painful to own Twitter

• By James Clayton
• BBC North America technology reporter

12 April 2023

To run Twitter bin dey "quite painful" and "na rollercoaster", Elon Musk tok, for one sharp sharp live interview wit BBC.

Di multi-billionaire entrepreneur also say im go sell di company if di right pesin come along.

Musk, wey dey also run car maker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, bin buy Twitter for $44bn (£35.4bn) for October.

Di interview from Twitter HQ for San Francisco cover di mass lay-offs, misinformation and im work habits.

Im agree say im only go through wit di takeover becos one judge bin wan try to force am to buy.

And im confirm say Twitter go change di new label wey e add for BBC account from "goment funded media" to say e dey "publicly funded" instead.

During di conversation - wey Musk try to do di interviewing dan di pesin wey dey interview am - im defend how im take dey run di company.

Asked weda im get any regrets about buying Twitter, di world second richest man say di "pain level bin dey extremely high, dis no be some kain party".

Talking about im time as oga at di top for Twitter, Musk say: "E no dey boring. Na rollercoaster."

E bin dey "really quite stressful situation over di last several months", im add, but say im still feel say buying di company na di right tin to do.

Afta im build stake for Twitter for beginning of 2022, Musk make takeover offer. But Twitter later carry am go court afta im try to dodge di deal.

Tins dey go "reasonably well", Oga Musk tell BBC, adding say di number of pipo wey dey use di site dey up and say "di site dey work".

Di workload mean say "I dey sometimes sleep for di office", im tok, adding say im get one corner for one coach for one library "wey nobody dey go dia".

And im also tok about some of im controversial tweets saying: "I don shoot mysef for my foot wit tweets multiple times? Yes."

"I think I no suppose tweet after 3am," im add.

Asked about di decision to add label to BBC main Twitter account describing am as "government funded media", Musk say: "I know say BBC bin generally no dey happy about di label state media."

Earlier this week, the corporation bin contact di social media giant over di label wey e give @BBC account to resolve di mata "as soon as possible".

"BBC dey, and always don dey, independent. We dey funded by di British public through licence fee," im tok.

Musk say Twitter dey adjust di label for the BBC to "publicly-funded".

"We dey try to dey accurate," im tok.

"I actually get a lot of respect for BBC," im add, come say di interview na "a good opportunity to ask some questions" and "to get some feedback on wetin we suppose dey do different".

BBC na UK national broadcaster and e dey operate through one Royal Charter wey dem agree wit goment. Na licence fee wey UK pipo dey pay dem dey take fund am - accounting for £3.8bn ($4.7bn) for 2022, about 71% of di BBC's total income of £5.3bn.

Di rest of im money dey come from im commercials plus oda activities like grants, royalties and rental income. BBC dey also receive more dan £90m per year from goment to support BBC World Service, wey dey mainly serve non-UK audiences.

Discussing Twitter finances, Oga Musk say di company now don dey "roughly break even", as most of im advertisers don return.

Im also say cutting workers from just under 8,000 wen im bin buy di company to about 1,500 bin no dey easy.

E agree say im no fire everybody in pesin, saying: "E no possible to talk wit dat many pipo face to face."

Di number of Twitter engineers wey don leave di company since Musk buy am don raise concerns about di stability of di platform.

Im agree say some glitches, including outages occur on di site but say dem no happun for very long and di site dey currently work fine.

Five key quotes

On buying Twitter: "E no dey boring. E bin be a rollercoaster... Na stressful situation."

On sacking workers: "I no go say e bin dey uncaring... If di whole ship sink, nobody go get work."

On profits: "We fit dey profitable, or to dey more precise, cash flow positive dis quarter if tin continue to go well. I tink almost all advertisers don come back or say dem go come back."

On im controversial tweets: "I bin shoot mysef for my foot wit tweets multiple times? Yes."

On labelling BBC as "Goment-funded media": "We dey adjust di label to... publicly funded... If we use di same words wey BBC use to describe imsef, den presumably e go dey OK."

For di interview - wey BBC broadcast live through Twitter Spaces service - Musk bin also face challenge on misinformation and hate speech on di platform.

Im claim say dem get less misinformation on Twitter since di takeover, and say im efforts to delete bots - automated accounts - go decrease fake news.

But many outside experts disagree. One study - plus few odas like am - find engagement wit popular misinformation-spreading accounts increase afta Musk takeover.

Im repeatedly question weda journalists na fair negotiators of truth and say im get more trust in "ordinary people".

On di issue of legacy-verified blue ticks for di platform, Musk say dem go remove am from accounts by end of next week.

Former Twitter executive Bruce Daisley - wey run di business for Europe, Middle East and Africa for eight years - say for interview "give us some insight into di strange life of dis billionaire".

"Im confess today say di only reason im bin go through wit buying Twitter na becos im believe say one judge go force am to go through wit di transaction. Im no eva admit am till now, so na very whimsical or playful interview."

Daisley also suggest say di interview show Musk bin no always dey consistent for wetin im tok.

Elon Musk get estimated personal wealth of almost $190bn, dis make am di world second richest pesin, according to Forbes billionaires list.

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