Barry Diller, chairman of IAC and Expedia, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday that he said Twitter is Elon Musk’s toy and will become a “much smaller business” under its new owner .
Diller said he thinks Musk is “impractical” but “very rational” and that he thinks Musk will stay with the company.
“You have a very rich guy who bought a toy,” Diller said. “He bought a toy and how long he’ll use it, like a toy, we don’t really know, but I don’t think he’s going to go away.”
Diller said he thinks Musk will figure out ways to improve Twitter and make it more engaging, but he doesn’t believe it will be the next super app.
“Twitter would be better, it would be smaller,” he said.
Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, took ownership of Twitter on October 1. 28 and leave a mark immediately. After taking over the company, he fired CEO Parag Agrawal, as well as Twitter’s chief financial officer and its heads of legal, public policy and trust and safety. A few days later, Twitter fired about half of its staff.
Since closing the $44 billion deal, Musk has floated a series of ideas for Twitter’s new user verification process through his subscription service Twitter Blue.
in seconds thread or tweet, Musk said he would “empower the people” by offering verification through Twitter Blue for $8 a month. Participants will receive priority in mentions, replies and searches, receive half as many ads, and will be able to post long videos and audio, he said.
Twitter began rolling out changes to its platform for some users on Saturday in preparation for a revamped Twitter Blue service, but reportedly plans to delay the rollout until after Tuesday’s midterm elections.