Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos
Amazon founder and second richest man in the world Jeff Bezos fired Elon Musk after he controlled Twitter for $ 44 billion: surprised if the operation will make things difficult for Tesla in China.
In a series of tweets, Bezos noted the electric vehicle giant’s close relationship with China, the world’s largest electric vehicle market and home of Tesla’s first overseas factory.
About half of the company’s cars sold worldwide last year were made at its plant in Shanghai, and Musk said that number could be double.
“Interesting question. Has the Chinese government had a bit of influence in the town square?” Tweeted Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post.
“My own answer to this question is probably no”, He added later. “The most likely outcome in this matter is complexity in China for Tesla, rather than censorship on Twitter.”
Yesterday Mike Forsythe, a journalist for the New York Times, communicated via Twitter that “Tesla’s second largest market in 2021 will be China (after the US),” adding that “Chinese battery manufacturers are the main supplier of Tesla electric vehicles.
Forsythe also tweeted that since 2009, the year China banned Twitter, “the government has virtually no influence on the platform.” “It may have changed,” the journalist added, suggesting a confined cat.
In this sense Jeff Bezos decided to enter into the conspiracy, responding to Forsythe as follows: “Interesting question. Did the Chinese government have any influence on the town square? “. An hour and a half later, the Amazon founder tweeted that his answer was “probably no. The most likely outcome in this matter is complexity in China for Tesla, rather than Twitter censorship. “
Musk defended free speech on the platform in one of his first tweets after the private deal was sealed. But Twitter, like most social media platforms in America, has been banned in China by distrustful officials impact on public discourse.
Tesla thrived in China because in part of tax breaks, cheap loans and a green light to fully own its domestic operations. But last year, the company went into turmoil after state media and regulators questioned Tesla’s attitude toward customers.
Bezos’ company also works in the country, but it is a distant competitor to local leaders Alibaba and JD.com.
Elon Musk’s words on freedom of expression
“I hope even my worst critics stay on Twitter, because what means freedom of expression”, He tweeted three hours before the news was confirmed.
Later, when the sale was officially announced, Musk tweeted part of the statement referring to freedom of expression, in which he simply added the word “Yes” along with emoticons of rockets and stars.
Musk said last week he raised $ 46.5 billion to buy, thanks to two bank loans from Morgan Stanley and also thanks to his personal fortune. with a contribution of 21,000 million dollars.
It also considers the possibility of launching a competitive acquisition bid directly through shareholders, to skip the was reluctant board of directors.
Finally, the purchase ended this same Monday before the market closed.
Source: Clarin
