Maybe Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk should've consulted with former Disney (DIS) head Bob Iger before he pledged $44 billion to buy Twitter (TWTR) earlier this year.
Musk has shown a propensity to make wild claims on his social media as he straddles the line between being one of the world's wealthiest people and being an internet troll.
So when he announced his intentions to buy Twitter, his social media platform of choice, earlier this year, it was hard to tell whether Musk was being serious.
Now, he and Twitter are embroiled in a bitter legal dispute over his $44 billion offer to buy the company, an offer of which he would like to back out of.
The issue for Musk seems to be the number of Twitter users who are actually bots and sock puppet accounts. But if he had just asked Iger about the company he may have avoided what is turning out to be one of the biggest missteps of his career.
Disney Almost Bought Twitter
Disney was tied to the potential purchase of the social media network back in 2016, along with other potential suitors like Google (GOOGL) and Salesforce (CRM).
In the years since his departure, Iger has said exactly why the Mickey Mouse company did not go through with the deal. He reiterated his point of view at Vox's Code Conference 2022 this week.
“We were intent on going into the streaming business. We needed a technology solution," Igor told the crowd, according to Vox.
"Interestingly enough, because I read the news these days, we did look very carefully at all of the Twitter users — I guess they’re called users? — and we at that point estimated with some of Twitter’s help that a substantial portion — not a majority — were not real."
The former executive went on to say that he doesn't remember the actual number of bots that were counted, but he does remember that the number was built into "our economics."
Iger has made similar comments in the past about why Disney ended up backing out of the Twitter deal. But previously, Iger's focus was on the content of the social media platform.
"There were Disney brand issues, the whole impact of technology on society. The nastiness is extraordinary," Iger told the New York Times in 2019.
His views three years ago jibe with what Iger said this week. Where do you think most of the "nastiness" on Twitter comes from?
The answer is bots and sock puppet accounts.
Lessons Musk Could've Learned
If Musk is successful at weaseling out of his deal with Twitter, it wouldn't be the first time the social media company was left at the acquisition altar.
“Then, after we sold the whole concept to the Disney board and the Twitter board, and we’re really ready to execute — the negotiation was just about done — I went home, contemplated it for a weekend, and thought, ‘I’m not looking at this as carefully as I need to look at it,'" Iger said.
“Then you have to look, of course, at all the hate speech and potential to do as much harm as good ... this was just something that we were not ready to take on and I was not ready to take on as the CEO of a company and I thought it would have been irresponsible."
It's a lesson that Musk could take to heart, but at the very least he's listening. How do we know he's listening?
