Even for Musk, the past week has been headline-filled. The world learned on Wednesday that last November, before the birth of Musk's second child, he secretly fathered twins with a rising star in the world of artificial intelligence. The births came to light after Insider discovered court documents granting the Musks' request to change the babies' names, adding their father's last name and having their mother's last name become part of their middle names.
In a regulatory filing on Friday, Musk claimed that the company had failed to give requested information on the prevalence of bots on the platform, or at least not in a useful format. It's likely that Musk was surprised when his offer was accepted, as he was trying to wriggle out of this purchase almost from the beginning. It's not clear how the whole saga will work out for Musk since he made a firm offer in writing to buy the company and that offer was not contingent on how many bot were on the platform. He didn't have to do due diligence to get the deal done.
The company plans to file a lawsuit to make sure the deal happens. Since Musk first moved to buy Twitter, the value of the company's shares has gone down, so some believe that this posturing is just a way to negotiate a lower price for the company. It's possible that Musk would be on the hook for at least $1 billion in charges if he quits.
It will not be the first time that something like this has happened to Musk. When he said he had "funding secured" to take the company private, it was not true. Musk was forced to give up his position as chairman of the company in order to pay a $20 million fine as a result of the case.
The brouhaha may be business as usual for Musk, but the news of the secret twins is new. It seems like it's part of a bad pattern. The judge ruled about six weeks ago that the lawsuit could go forward despite the company's attempt to stop it. A few days before that, Insider reported that Musk had paid $250,000 for a flight attendant's silence about his behavior on the plane. Musk denied the harassment allegations, but didn't comment on the payment.
In light of these other accusations, Musk's liaison with Zilis, along with the secrecy surrounding it, looks like one more instance of a spoiled, out-of-control billionaire seeking sexual congress with whatever young female happens to be in reach. White men dominate the fields of data science and artificial intelligence. Four years ago, Rana el Kaliouby reported attending the premiere of a new artificial intelligence documentary where she and another woman were the only two experts. Kaliouby wrote that the artificial intelligence is in need of diversity. It was a bit of a need for diversity until this week. She was included in both Forbes' 30 Under 30 and 35 Under 35. She's going to be most famous as the mother of Musk's secret twins.
There are weaknesses and strengths when an organization has a single strong leader. Musk has no filter when it comes to his social media activity. This is part of his appeal and the reason he has more than 100 million followers on his social media accounts. His public persona can be a real liability. Musk's recent messages seem to encourage engineers and other employees to avoid his companies, for instance by warning them that they'd be expected to work at least 40 hours a week in the office atTesla or that work ethic expectations would be extreme.
However male employees or prospective employees might feel about working at a company Musk owns, I have to believe the events of the past few weeks would cause female engineers to question the wisdom of working in places where they reportedly would have to put up with lewd comments, inappropriate touching, and sexual proposition as It's difficult to see how that would benefit any of Musk's companies.
If Musk were a CEO, he would have been fired by now. If you don't believe that, consider Steve Easterbrook, the former CEO of McDonald's who lost his job and was forced to return more than 100 million dollars in compensation after his relationships with Mcdonald's employees came to light. Musk's companies are bound up with his persona so he is safe from any consequences. It's possible that all the others will rise on the ups and downs of his decisions.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
