Musk has done it yet again. He has managed to land in controversy all over again. This time, he has been sued by former Twitter shareholders who claim they missed out on the recent surge in Twitter’s stock price because the billionaire Musk delayed disclosing the fact that he had purchased a 9.2 per cent stake in the micro blogging platform. However, this is not the first time that Musk has landed in such controversy. People still know him as a brilliant billionaire. So, what encapsulates his transformation from ‘salesman of billionaire’s dream’ to ‘the billionaire fraud’.
Seller of dreams
What do you say when someone makes promises that are effectively impossible to keep. You say that he has promised you the moon. Right? Well, Musk doesn’t promise you the moon. He promises the Mars, quite literally.
Musk has always had this knack for promising extravagant things- Tesla cars which he claims to have brought from the next generations, townships on Mars and ‘off-planet’ automobiles.
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Dreams that you cannot afford
Now, who are these promises for?
Say, for example, a township is finally constructed on Mars? Who will go and live there? Well, some rich billionaires obviously. The same applies to ‘off-planet’ cars and other products offered by Musk.
Simply put, Musk isn’t known for selling dreams that you and I can afford. He is selling a billionaire’s dreams though he seemingly claims to be doing it for everyone. And frankly, this is what makes Musk popular. He is made to look like an extraordinary entrepreneur who is turning unimaginable propositions into reality.
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The transformation
Yet, Musk has transformed into ‘the billionaire fraud’. How? Well, there are many reasons why Musk has seen a fall from grace.
In 2021, approximately $5.7 billion shares in Tesla were donated to charity. The beneficiaries however remain a secret. This seems controversial. Philanthropy expert Ben Soskis said, “Come on. There has to be a middle-ground [between] preening, self-congratulatory mega-giving & complete non-disclosure.” The expert added, “If not, we’re gonna need a pretty radical overhaul of our [regulations] relating to individual giving & anonymity.”
Soskis also said, “If you are giving a gift of over $5 [billion], you should publicly announce where the money is going. As a fundamental matter of public interest.”
Now, you may say that it’s okay if Musk doesn’t want to tell where his donations are going. People do ask for anonymity or privacy. However, the Twitter issue seems even more controversial. Musk has been sued by former Twitter shareholders who say that Musk made “materially false and misleading statements and omissions” by failing to disclose by March 24 that he had invested in Twitter in line with federal law.
Twitter shares rose by 27 per cent on April 4. It was only natural given that the world’s richest man had an investment. Former shareholders say that the delayed disclosure by Musk allowed him to buy more shares at a lower price and defrauded the former shareholders into selling at “artificially deflated” prices.
The Twitter controversy, therefore, does some real damage to Musk’s image. The man had built a reputation for selling big, virtually impossible dreams. But the latest controversy portrays Musk as a billionaire fraud. Musk’s journey has therefore been much of a roller-coaster ride.
