When Twitter first launched in 2006, it was a beacon of its time. It gave people a voice — in real-time — that was easily searchable. It served to connect people physically and digitally, was an extension for brands and news organizations worldwide, and even served to influence trends around the world. 

Now, 13 years into its existence, Twitter has undergone a change of hands. After months of attempting to acquire the social media giant, Elon Musk has effectively done so. But his new ownership – and the way it has been handled thus far – has been called into question by many people. 

1. Corporation Leaders Don’t Always Agree

Most corporations have enough CSuite members and investors that their decision-making processes are pretty involved, and their decisions firm. But because so many people are involved in leadership with bigger corporations, there can be more of a disconnect when it comes to these decisions. 

Even though the team at Twitter was initially turned off by the idea of Musk taking over, they – very publicly – changed their minds about the situation multiple times. In April, Musk became the largest shareholder in the company and they announced that he would be joining the board. After just a week, ownership announced that he would no longer be joining the board. This was just the tip of the iceberg of their back-and-forth discussions, which evolved into Twitter’s choice to block Musk’s proposal to purchase the platform in its entirety. Their refusal to work with Musk didn’t stop him from securing outside funding in the meantime.

2. Corporations Are Ruled By Fine Print

Even with the necessary funds for this elaborate purchase and the support of his following, Musk found himself in gridlock with Twitter as they examined a possible breach in the original purchase agreement. In July, after much deliberation, the deal was terminated. 

In all honesty, the process may have been a lot easier for Musk had the purchase agreement not been violated. Even without contract violations, there is usually a lot of fine print and red tape around acquisitions and changes within established corporations. 

3. All Press Is Good Press

As the saying goes, “all press is good press.” We have all seen corporations embrace big names for cross-promotional opportunities, collaborations, and otherwise. Remember Michael Jordan and Nike? (And Hanes an Gatorade.) And while it has since fizzled out, Kanye and Adidas had quite the romance going for a number of years.

Elon Musk can be charming, which may have been the initial allure in the entire situation. But even once there was a little bit of an issue with the contract, Musk kept the platform in the news for months. He tweeted about his disdain for censorship, his plans to take over and reverse Twitter’s Trump ban, and his unwillingness to compromise. The entire time, Twitter was getting free press out of it. Controversy kept the social platform top of mind, and stock rates went crazy. 

4. Corporations Care About The Bottom Line

In business, people are constantly pivoting to understand and predict the way their company will survive and thrive in the future. A lot of these assessments come down to brass tax and cutting expenses. Shortly after Musk acquired Twitter – within a week, in fact – the company began to engage in massive layoffs totaling about half of the company. The announcement was made via email.

Within two days of his ownership announcement, Elon was reaching out to laid off employees, trying to hire them back if he thought they would be of use to the company. Most companies invest in outside help to assess newly acquired companies before making sweeping moves like that, but Elon has never been one to shy away from controversy. Instead of doing research into which workers would be the most useful moving forward and taking their time to get to know the staff, new leadership chose to cut people based on factors unknown to increase their profit margins in association with other changes. 

In a corporate environment, no matter how essential you may feel or may have made yourself, the bottom line is always more important. If the company isn’t thriving financially, hard decisions – sometimes really bad decisions – are made. In a corporate office, no one is safe.

5. Corporations Fall Prey to Greed

As indicated multiple times above, corporations are more prone to fall prey to greed. Working for a corporate office? Make sure you are familiar with the CSuite team and any investors in the company. If you don’t know them personally, you may want to do some research into who they are, the business investments they have made in the past, and how their companies have treated their workers. 

This information is super important because corporate greed is very real. Some investors are in it for the short term and a quick payout, and some choose to invest for the long haul because they believe in the brand or its product. In both instances, owners could be presented with an offer for purchase that makes sense financially to them. You will want to be aware of how your owners or ownership team consider their options. In any case, you could be blindsided by an ownership or operations decision that directly benefits the higher-ups.  

If you’ve chosen to work within a corporate office or are engaging in corporate-adjacent work, make sure to stay on your toes when it comes to the company’s culture. Bigger companies tend to be less transparent than smaller mom-and-pop shops. Stay aware of what direction the company is growing in, and how you want to show up in that space. Sometimes, a position that initially benefitted you could become less satisfying. In other cases, you may have found yourself in a working environment you really enjoy, collaborating with personalities you adore.