Elon Musk: Twitter could be like ‘Jon Stewart Daily Show’ in possible deal signal

By: Ariel Z.

Elon Musk said Twitter could become an “old-school version of The Economist” or Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” when it was hosted by Jon Stewart – suggesting he may be dropping his resistance to closing his $44 billion acquisition of the social-media giant.

The billionaire Tesla CEO, who is facing a lawsuit from Twitter to force him to go through with an agreement acquire it for $54.20 a share, posted several tweets on Sunday night which appeared to indicate that he was preparing to take over the firm.

“It sure is hard to find a news source that’s accurate, relevant & not totally depressing!” Musk tweeted on Sunday.

“Old-school version of The Economist & Jon Stewart Daily Show / Colbert Report were great.”

“Maybe Twitter can become that,” Musk tweeted in a follow-up post.

Musk also joked over the weekend that he may merge Tesla and Twitter to form a company called “Twizzler,” and took thinly veiled swipes at the company’s management, asking whether Twitter made changes to its algorithm in order to limit user interactions.

“Interaction with almost all twitter accounts seem to be much lower in recent weeks & days. Accurate?” Musk asked his 102.5 million followers.

Musk on Friday filed a countersuit against Twitter after the social media company asked a Delaware court to force the Tesla boss to follow through on the $44 billion merger.

Musk’s plans for the counter-suit, which was filed in Delaware’s Court of Chancery.

Twitter is asking a Delaware judge to enforce the merger agreement by which Musk agreed to purchase Twitter at $54.20 a share.

A five-day trial is set to begin on Oct. 17.

Musk first said he was walking away from the deal on July 8, accusing Twitter of breaching the merger agreement by misleading him about the number of fake accounts on the site.

Twitter sued days later, calling the fake account claims a distraction and saying Musk was bound by the merger contract to close the deal at the agreed-upon price.

Musk once again criticized the news media on Sunday after a Bloomberg story quoting Tesla owners as saying that they would no longer stay loyal to the brand in light of the CEO’s antics on Twitter.

“I was a total Musk fanboy,” Tesla driver Dennis Levitt, 73, of suburban Los Angeles told Bloomberg News.

“Over time, his public statements have really come to bother me,” he said, referencing his public dustups with President Biden and others.

Musk has also been embroiled in several public scandals. Last week, he denied a Wall Street Journal report which alleged that he slept with the estranged wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin — prompting the tech mogul to file for divorce from Nicole Shanahan.

Last month, it was also revealed that Musk fathered twins with a female executive who works for him at his brain chip company Neuralink.

“He acts like a 7-year-old,” Levitt told Bloomberg. He said he has no plans to buy another Tesla.

Musk, meanwhile, accused the press of highlighting negative news about his personal life in order to generate reader interest.

“The media has strong negative bias & are driven by clicks (they can’t help it),” Musk tweeted in response to a fan comment about the Bloomberg story.

“Unfortunately, I generate lots of clicks. But these things move in cycles.”

Musk added: “When it starts boring readers to knock me down, they will build me up. This cycle has happened so many times…”