Peter Kafka

Peter Kafka @pkafka

@AndrewKerrNC Actually $1.3b on R&D, but what’s $500m? Anyway it’s mostly to pay engineers, who are expensive. Also the real operating margin is closer to 5%. But if the real point is “they’re no Facebook or google, which print money” then yes, agreed. — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

@goldman Plenty more where that came from: “People have asked me, say, a Mars society, what are my recommendations for that,” he mused.” https://t.co/iIDI67QR0M — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

Time magazine knows Elon Musk - they named him Person of the Year last year and he came to their party - and you don’t so listen up: “He’s a genius who uses the incredible force of his will to mobilize resources to pursue his ideas.” https://t.co/wnMboIhUvo — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

@davidr They gave no fucks - they were dumping this on discovery. (In theory they should care because their investors will still own part of the newco but…) — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

The bigger picture is that CNN+ was supposed to provide an “off ramp” for CNN viewers/subscribers as regular CNN declined. But that would only work if old CNN viewers replaced their cable bundle with a new streaming bundle. — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

How CNN sold CNN+ to its old owners: “CNN+ could one day attract nearly 30 million global subscriptions from a total addressable market of roughly 72 million people.” — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

Discovery going out of its way to argue that AT&T and WarnerMedia made a mess and they’re gonna fix it. It’s their right to say that, because they bought it (last regime said same). Can also use that argument for a while to explain future setbacks. — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

@sherman4949 Jason who? — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

Again: Elon Musk can say he doesn’t care about economics but even the world’s richest man has bills to pay. Related: @benthompson thinks Musk would like 20% of Twitter employees to quit because he owns it. — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

@silviakillings Jack doesn’t have to care. Elon very much has to. — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

Some options: Sell more ads, add more users. But Twitter has been trying to do that for 15 years. One thing it hasn’t tried yet: Charge you to tweet. https://t.co/XSPd7THI5g — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

Twitter is a famously bad business. Now Elon Musk has to make it better. How’s that going to happen? — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

Then later they will reporters what kind of fruit was consumed when the deal was signed. https://t.co/Blx6VNfOyT — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

Good sausage-making semi-transparency here: When your company is being sold you have to hire a pricey comms firm that specializes in this stuff. (This stuff being M&A press, not the actual companies involved. They don’t know anything about the companies.) https://t.co/uzUlrPKXHg — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

@waltmossberg @Twitter He will definitely want to hear what the lawyers have to say. — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

Elon Musk will ban all speculation and prediction on Twitter. — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

@alexeheath Please tip the waitstaff! — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

RT @pkafka: “There will be distractions ahead” — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

Ideas floated here: *fire people (and/or let them quit) *add more users *sell more ads *pay-to-tweet *twitter MegaAPI (per @benthompson) Some of these Twitter has flirted with in the past. Some Twitter has been trying to do for 15 years. — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

Turns out that buying Twitter for $44 billion wasn’t that hard? Making Twitter worth $44 billion, though…. — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

RT @emanuelmaiberg: the fact that powerful people in media killed my original headline, "Elon Musk Becomes King Shit of Turd Mountain," is… — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

@sherman4949 Market a few months ago: https://t.co/UhY374NXYt — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

@sherman4949 Helps to have someone who thinks it’s worth more. — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

All over but the press release. — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

“We realize that a take-it or leave-it offer is not ultimately how shareholders or a board of directors want to negotiate, but we would urge both to take this offer and run.” Analyst Michael Nathanson, April 14. — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

@joshelman @EEAAOA24 Saw last night. So fun. — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

RT @AirTalk: We're talking about CNN+/Netflix today with @bristei of @Variety and @pkafka of @Recode & @voxdotcom. Tweet us your questions… — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

@htcarr_ Wherever managers want to put it, if they want to put it anywhere. When we sold it the idea was it would run on CNN linear; we were later told it would run on + at launch and linear later. — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

@claireatki Lifetime is ended! So hopefully they will stop charging you. — PolitiTweet.org

Peter Kafka @pkafka

But it also didn’t do things you couldn’t do anywhere else. ESPN+ isn’t ESPN either, but it offers exclusive live sports some people value a lot. CNN+ had fine programming (again, I got to help make some) but it was the kind of stuff you can find lots of other places as well. RIP — PolitiTweet.org