Elon Musk outlines vision for Twitter buy, teases a ‘Plan B’

Billionaire Elon Musk outlined Thursday his vision for Twitter if his proposed purchase goes through, insisted he has a Plan B if it fails, and called U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regulators “b——-ds.”

The space-technology and electric-vehicle company leader disclosed his offer to purchase Twitter in a regulatory filing and he defended his ability to afford an estimated $40 billion price tag for outstanding shares of Twitter stock in an appearance at the TED2022 conference in Canada.

“I could technically afford it, but what I’m saying is this is not a way to sort of make money,” Mr. Musk said. “It’s just that I think that this is, my strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important.”

Mr. Musk said he wanted Twitter’s algorithm to be publicly available for scrutiny and he had no interest in personally working on editing individual content.

He said people using the platform should know whether something is being done to promote or demote content.

He also teased a fallback plan for if Twitter and its shareholders turn his offer down for buying all outstanding shares of Twitter.

“If in this case you are not successful, the board does not accept your offer, you’ve said you won’t go higher, is there a plan B?” asked Chris Anderson, TED2022 moderator.

“There is,” Mr. Musk said.

“I think we would like to hear a little bit about plan B,” Mr. Anderson said.

“For another time, I think,” Mr. Musk said.

Mr. Musk said his tweets are largely him publishing a stream-of-consciousness and not indicative of a grander plan for building a following.

He said many come to him when he sits on the toilet.

The billionaire also blasted U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regulators over their tussle with him regarding his electric vehicle company Tesla. He said the regulators’ actions forced him into a hard spot and he branded the SEC, “those b——-ds.”