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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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John Naughton

Elon Musk running Twitter? It’s like giving a monkey a delicate clock

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk acquired Twitter last week for $44bn
Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk acquired Twitter last week for $44bn. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

When the news broke that Elon Musk had finally been obliged to buy Twitter, the company he had tried – for months – to get out of purchasing, it reminded many observers of the 1979 commercial for Remington shavers in which the corporation’s president, Victor Kiam, proclaimed that he liked the electric razor so much “I bought the company.”

This was a mistake: Kiam merely liked the business he bought, whereas Musk is addicted to his company, in the sense that he cannot live without it. In acquiring Twitter, he has therefore forgotten the advice given to Tony Montana in Scarface: “Don’t get high on your own supply.”

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