Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter, gave an unexpected interview with the BBC on Tuesday evening, April 11, in which he revealed some relevant bits about his term at the helm of the tech company.
These include his sleeping on a sofa at the headquarters, the time he bought the company because he believed the court would order him to, and so on. The talk covered a wide variety of issues.
This week marks the year anniversary of Musk's first bid to acquire Twitter, which was made in April of last year. Despite Musk's frequent criticism and dislike for the media, this interview is one of the most in-depth assessments he has provided about the firm since he formally took control over six months ago.
Musk as a 'Workaholic'
Musk has a history of working excessive hours during critical moments for his companies and is known to be a "workaholic." According to Gizmodo, the CEO has been quoted as saying that he slept on the floor of one of Tesla's factories before eventually moving to a bed beneath his desk so that employees could see him during work shifts.
Musk also revealed to the BBC that he often sleeps at Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco. "There's a library that nobody goes to on the seventh floor, and there's a couch there. I sleep there sometimes."
From Purchasing to Running the Firm
Musk spent much of 2022 defending his attempt to back out of the $44-billion plan to acquire Twitter. While he never stated so publicly, many believe that Musk finalized the purchase of Twitter in October 2022 after concluding that a judge would eventually order him to do so.
Musk confirmed this in an interview with the BBC, saying that the process of acquiring the social media site was "quite entertaining," like a "soap opera."
He said the initial response was, "Hell no, you can't buy Twitter. We'd rather die." However, there seemed to be a change of heart because these people eventually asked Musk to buy the company, which he thought was odd at the time.
Mass layoffs at Twitter, which affected thousands of people, including many longtime employees, have been one of the company's largest and sad stories in recent months. Musk claims there were less than 8,000 people working for Twitter when he took over as CEO in October 2022, and there are presently about 1,500, as featured on Reuters.
The CEO admitted to the BBC that it was difficult to fire so many employees. "No fun at all. It's painful."
Twitter vs. US Media
Regarding Twitter's new labels for non-profit journalism that receives public or government financing, Musk told the BBC he would alter the labels once again.
During the last week, Musk has been at odds with the BBC and US media sources over the labeling, including NPR, PBC, and Voice of America News. The fiasco started when Twitter suddenly labeled NPR's profile as "state-affiliated media," the same title given to well-known official propaganda sources like China's Xinhua News or Russia's RT.
On Wednesday morning, April 12, NPR announced in a statement that it would be closing its Twitter accounts.
