Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter

by Kate Conger

By the time he touched down in London, 57.5 percent of the more than 17.5 million accounts that had voted were calling for him to resign. It was a shock to Musk’s system. For a man who read sci-fi and superhero fantasies growing up as a kid, the rejection felt like Gotham voting to exile Batman. Musk was shorn of the deep confidence he often had in himself and driven into further misery by Tesla’s tumbling stock. The company’s shares set a new two-year low upon his return stateside on December 20 and were down nearly 66 percent since the start of the year. Musk spent the day in Austin at Tesla, attempting to do damage control and prove to the market he wasn’t an absentee boss. The stock continued to fall in the days after. When he arrived back in San Francisco, he stopped responding to some emails and texts, while those who did come in contact with him reported to others in his circle that he was in the throes of a manic event. His behavior would begin a period of what Marc Andreessen, a cofounder of Twitter investor Andreessen Horowitz, would term “an episode.” The venture capitalist became so concerned that he messaged Twitter staffers to see if Musk, who confined himself largely to his conference room, was in the right headspace.