The Exchanges

Q Uh, but it was more than we got in the last week from the new management to certainly, um, Was there like a general sense that like, okay, this, this deal probably once he tried to get out of it, was there a general sense like, oh, he probably won't be the new owner or was it sort of like limbo?

A I mean, at one point it certainly seemed like He might, uh, might be willing to pay some kind of nominal fee to get out of it. Um, certainly seemed for a while that he, that he absolutely did not want to do it if he had the choice to, and maybe, maybe that's still the case. Maybe he didn't have a choice not, not to do it at this point, given what happened in, in court. Um, who, you know, who's to say it's a very complex acquisition matter. Uh, but Certainly when after the judge, um, had agreed to this delay after he said that he was going to close it, um, I think at that point, you know, there was no way this wasn't going to happen.

AI assessment note: “I think at that point, you know, there was no way this wasn't going to happen.”

Q No, you can't really say, but like, what's your hunch?

A I don't have a crystal ball. Um, yeah, I, I really don't know. I, I think. I wouldn't be surprised if more advertisers pull their revenue because if we're honest, there's other places they're happy to put it, right? Twitter has never been for most big advertisers. Yeah. This is our like number one thing that we're going to put all of our money into. It just hasn't been that. Um, so if there's, if there's risk or there's turbulence, there's instability, They'll, they'll, they'll shift it around. They'll move it wherever else. Yeah. You know, experimental advertising in the metaverse or whatever Zuckerberg's doing. I don't know. Like, you know, there's, there's options. Um, so I would, I would not be surprised if, if that trend continues of advertising revenue dropping. Um, um, not confident that a push on direct revenue products via users will pick up at the same pace that ad revenue may drop.

AI assessment note: “I wouldn't be surprised if more advertisers pull their revenue”

Q Oh, wow. Interesting. So, um, can you, can you talk a little bit about the plans that, that, um, Elon said he wanted to introduce were, were, was there any excitement to, well, actually, let me ask you this. What is your opinion about Elon, you know, or what was it before this all began?

A Um, so I, I personally try not to really have too many solid plans. Opinions about people that I haven't met or don't know that are based on, you know, media or projections or, or whatever. I, I try, I try as a rule not to do that. So while there certainly were people, um, that were very anti him, uh, and certainly there are a lot of people that are very pro him. I, I tend to find that historically I've just been quite neutral. I'm like, I will judge people by their actions. Uh, if I think it's a good thing that you've done, or if I think it's a bad thing that you've done, um, and, and tend not to make, you know, personality judgments on people that I don't know.

AI assessment note: “historically I've just been quite neutral. I'm like, I will judge people by their actions”

Q Do you still, do you believe in the plans that he laid out for Twitter and what will the fact that he's cut so many employees due to his ability to actually see them through?

A That's a good question. Um, given that I don't know the exact number, um, that's impacted, but I do believe it to be quite high. Uh, I think it's gonna be challenging. It's gonna be challenging. And I think that there are people who, even if they have, you know, survived this, uh, probably very likely to, to leave their own accord in, in the not too distant future. Um, Yeah, it's, it's difficult. As far as, as far as what their plans might be, I think one thing that's pretty clear from the economics of this deal is that he's on the hook for quite a lot of money in not a huge amount of time. You know, we're talking A billion plus in interest payments alone to the financiers every year. You know, that's more revenue than it has been making. Uh, obviously, you know, some of it is collateral against, you know, Tesla stock and, and whatever else. And, um, he's not gonna wanna, you know, have to sell other things unless he's forced to. So it's sort of this, this juggling game for him, I guess. But I think what that makes clear is, is product wise, The focus is extremely likely to be on everything that drives new revenue and ignore everything that doesn't.

AI assessment note: “I think it's gonna be challenging. It's gonna be challenging.”

Q So, so tell me about, yeah, how did that, what was the, your reaction when that happened?

A Yeah, I, I was excited to potentially work with, with Jack. Um, you know, I think there's always this sort of, Um, you know, cult of the founder as, as they call it. Um, and that that's, you know, it's, it's a real thing, you know, when you're the founding CEO, there's, there's a certain amount of sort of mystique that goes along with that, whether that's, um, you know, uh, you know, warranted or, or unwarranted. Um, certainly with Jack, um, having, you know, gone through his journey of being removed from the company and setting up another successful company with, uh, block formerly known as square. Um, and then coming back to Twitter, um, You know, there was, there was, you know, that kind of element around him. Um, when he, the funny thing is when he stepped down about, you know, two weeks is about the general onboarding at Twitter. So those first two weeks is just a lot of setting up your systems and reading this and doing that. And, um, you're not really doing any actual work, but as I recall it, there's, um, There was a tradition of Jack jumping into a, um, a Google Meet, um, call with every batch of, of new employees on a pretty rolling basis, and that was actually in our calendars, and it was supposed to happen, like, two or three days after the day that he ended up saying, you know, I'm stepping down, and so, so that, that didn't happen, so I was, like, days away from h…

AI assessment note: “I was excited to potentially work with, with Jack.”

Q Was there follow-up communication from the company after that?

A Yeah, there's, there's been follow-up communication. Um, very, let's just say very carefully worded. Uh, obviously, uh, Different countries, um, even different states in the US, different territories, you know, the, the labor laws can vary widely, right? And in the UK, we actually have pretty good labor laws. Um, so there is, there is certain things that have to be said and certain steps that have to be taken and processes that have to be followed. Otherwise, um, you can find yourself in, in serious legal liability. Um, so certainly at least here in the UK, and I'm sure, you know, everybody, Everywhere else relative to, to whatever local laws are applicable, uh, is paying very close attention to ensure that this process is followed. Um, and you know, whatever, if, if that happens, then that's fine. Uh, if it doesn't, then we'll see where we go from there.

AI assessment note: “Yeah, there's, there's been follow-up communication. Um, very, let's just say very carefully worded.”