Morning Joe Hopes Twitter Buyout ‘Brings Down Musk’s Entire Business Empire’

On MSNBC’s Morning JoeThursday’s co-hosts, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski eagerly invited left-wing guests. Business Insider columnist Linette Lopez to offer wild speculation that billionaire Elon Musk’s buyout of Twitter would somehow result in the collapse of the richest man in the world’s “entire business empire.”

Brzezinski touted how “a new column, Insider column, argues that Musk is making a huge gamble by acquiring…Twitter.” She then gleefully quoted Lopez’s doomsday prediction: “Twitter is not even close to being able to service the kind of debt this deal will bring on. And if it can’t, the company could end up being the bottomless, money-sucking pit that brings down Musk’s entire business empire.”

Brzezinski repeated the same dire pronouncement minutes later and asked Lopez: “…what do you think the challenges are going to be for Elon Musk?” Lopez hyped: “Well, the biggest challenge is that Twitter doesn’t really make money….it’s books will now have $13billion of debt. One billion will be required to service each year. And that’s a lot.”

Scarborough added his voice by declaring: Musk “seems like he made one mistake after another in getting this.” He then mocked “guests who come on here and like to talk about Elon being all-knowing” and argued that Musk buying Twitter “seems to be like a vanity play.”He mentioned critics who criticized the deal worth $44 billion as “an over-leveraged clown.”

The anchor at least had the self-awareness to admit: “I don’t understand the business deal at all, of course I’m not the richest person on the planet, so perhaps I shouldn’t be asking these questions.”

Lopez seemed certain that advertisers would be so threatened by the social media company standing up for free speech under Musk’s ownership that they would quickly abandon the platform: “But the thing is, 90% of Twitter’s revenue comes from ads. If advertisers don’t want to put their ads against crazy, unmoderated content, it’s gonna lose money.”

Then, she began to rant about her Twitter encounters with Musk.

He is a lover of attention. He’s loving this will you, won’t you. He is a talker. You see, he’s a tiny person on Twitter. He’s yelled at me on Twitter. All kinds of people are yelled at by him on Twitter. For him, it’s completely normal, this is the most fun thing.

Lopez concluded: “So do I think it is a vanity play? Yes. Do I think he’s putting Telsa at risk? Absolutely. Do I think it’ll be extremely difficult to turn Twitter around? Sure.”

Flying in the face of the assertions on Morning Joe, a new Rasmussen poll shows not only that Americans have faith in Musk’s ability to improve Twitter, but that many of them will also start using the platform more with him as owner.

It should also be noted that Lopez isn’t some neutral business journalist, she has a history of making outlandish left-wing comments. Appearing on MSNBC in September of 2019, she wailed that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh represented “the nasty reality” of “what white male privilege is in this country.” In December, she told then-MSNBC anchor Craig Melvin that conservative evangelical Christians were all “racist.” Talking about Musk to MSNBC back on April 17, Lopez accused him of “intimidation” and having “always pushed back against any labeling of racist language.”

Morning Joe’s wishful thinking about Twitter being Musk’s downfall was brought to viewers by Liberty Mutual. Let Liberty Mutual know how you feel about this sponsoring of such content.

This is the transcript from the discussion of April 29, 2009.

9:00 AM ET

MIKA BRZEZINSKI – The markets opened just after tech earnings topped off. And we’re keeping tabs on Elon Musk as well after the Tesla CEO sold $4 billion worth of his company’s shares just days after Twitter accepted his bid to take them private.

It comes as Reuters reports that he wants to cut costs at the social media giant by cracking down on pay and find new ways to monetize tweets – and he might need to. It’s because of a new column. Insidercolumn, Musk makes a massive gamble when he acquires Titter [sic] – Twitter. It reads in part, quote – sorry – “Twitter is not even close to being able to service the kind of debt this deal will bring on. And if it can’t, the company could end up being the bottomless, money-sucking pit that brings down Musk’s entire business empire.” In a moment, we’re gonna speak to the author of that piece.

(…)

9:00 AM ET

BRZEZINSKI: Let’s bring in now the author of the piece that we quoted from about Twitter being the “bottomless, money-sucking pit that could bring down Elon Musk’s entire business empire.” Insider columnist Linette Lopez joins us now. So how – what do you think the challenges are going to be for Elon Musk?

LINETTE LOPEZ: Well, the biggest challenge is that Twitter doesn’t really make money. It uses a bunch of really Silicon Valley, really legal accounting tricks to juice it’s profit. For example, it pays out a lot of it’s compensation in stock and because that stock isn’t counted as an expense, it goes back on Twitter’s balance sheet, as cash or profit. And it juiced Twitter’s balance sheet to the tune of $630 million last year. Elon will have to find a way to pay employees without giving stock. Twitter, as you all know, will be an independent company. It will also be very different. After this deal, it will have $13 trillion in debt. It will also have to service one billion dollars per year. And that’s a lot.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: It seems like – it seems like he made one mistake after another in getting this. There are guests here who like to discuss Elon’s all-knowingness. But he even waived his right to review Twitter’s finances. I don’t understand the business deal at all, of course I’m not the richest person on the planet, so perhaps I shouldn’t be asking these questions. Again, this seems like a vanity show. He didn’t even look at the expenses. This thing’s been called “an over-leveraged clown.” What’s his biggest risk?

LOPEZ: The biggest risk is that he can’t make it profitable and keeps throwing his money in. I mean, it seems pretty clear that he wants to cut costs and it seems pretty clear that cost-cutting will come on the side of Twitter’s moderators. But the thing is, 90% of Twitter’s revenue comes from ads. If advertisers don’t want to put their ads against crazy, unmoderated content, it’s gonna lose money.

He’s talked about doing things like giving people subscriptions, I don’t know how that’s gonna work. Taylor Swift needs to be more active on Twitter. I believe she has much better things. So it’s really unclear what this turn-around plan is. And the fact that Wall Street bankers, like, finished this deal so quickly, and the board finished this deal so quickly, after taking that poison pill, kind of makes you wonder, who’s really holding the bag here?

And I’ll tell you, Wall Street is taking its pound of flesh. Elon borrowed $12 billion to cover a margin loan. This loan has such high interest rates that it can make your eyes water. And if he doesn’t pay that loan or if Telsa stock drops below $400, then the banks will start selling Telsa stock. This is Tesla’s real threat.

WILLIE GEIST: So Linette, whether you like Elon Musk or not, he is changing the world with big ideas – the electric cars, he wants to put people on Mars eventually and colonize it with his SpaceX program. He’s changed the way the space race looks.

LOPEZ: I’m not going to Mars, but okay.

GEIST: So, Twitter – well, you don’t have to go, I guess. He just finds Twitter small. You know exactly what I’m referring to? It’s this sort of place for people who work in the media and politics yell at each other all day. What is it – what is it about Twitter that so interests him?

LOPEZ: Literally, everything you say. His love for attention is contagious. He’s loving this will you, won’t you. He is a talker. He is very tiny on Twitter. He’s yelled at me on Twitter. On Twitter, he yells at everyone. For him, it’s completely normal, this is the most fun thing.

He’s not a Russian oligarch, he doesn’t have yachts, he doesn’t have like cool houses, I guess. This is his place to have a great time. It is vanity, I suppose. Yes. Do I think he’s putting Telsa at risk? Absolutely. Do I think it’ll be extremely difficult to turn Twitter around? Sure. Remember that Telsa wasn’t profitable for about 15 years, but Tesla could tap into the public markets, Twitter’s not going to be able to do that. And it’s very clear, because Elon is going in this deal alone, that Wall Street is not interested, nobody else wants to touch this thing either. Elon Musk seems to be a bag holder.

SCARBOROUGH: Okay, Linette Lopez.

BRZEZINSKI: Wow. We are so grateful. He not only – it is small ball – he’s not only attacking you, like a week ago, he either got suckered into retweeting a five-year-old story claiming it just happened or he’s just a liar. And either way, it doesn’t look good for him. Thank you for sharing your time with us.

BRZEZINSKI: Thanks, Linette.

LOPEZ : Thanks guys, it was a pleasure having you.