- A brand new ebook, “Character Limit,” reveals how Elon Musk sought recommendation on Twitter Blue from his pals.
- While mulling over a value level for Twitter Blue, he approached David Sacks, amongst others.
Elon Musk approached a small circle of pals and acquaintances with little to no expertise operating a social media firm to resolve the optimum value of Twitter Blue earlier than he landed on $8 a month — an quantity he believed folks normally paid for a cup of Starbucks, based on an upcoming ebook written by New York Times reporters Kate Conger and Ryan Mac.
A New York Times story tailored from “Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter,” which paperwork the billionaire’s chaotic takeover of the corporate in October 2022, particulars how Musk selected the pricing of Twitter Blue, a subscription service that offers customers unique options and a blue checkmark.
The characteristic has since been rebranded as X Premium.
Fresh off the $44 billion buy of Twitter, Musk started discussing pricing for Blue with folks in his orbit, together with enterprise capitalist David Sacks, tech podcaster Jason Calacanis, and writer Walter Isaacson, who was shadowing Musk for his biography on the billionaire, based on the excerpt.
The new Twitter proprietor received a couple of strategies.
Sacks argued that the price of Twitter Blue ought to be elevated from $4.99 to $20 a month.
“Chanel might make a fortune promoting a $99 bag, however it will be a one-time transfer,” Sacks wrote in an e-mail considered by the Times. “A ‘promotional provide’ is probably not the place we would like. A luxurious model can at all times transfer down-market, but it surely’s very laborious to maneuver up-market as soon as the model is shot.”
Calacanis, a good friend of Musk’s, prompt $99 a 12 months. According to the excerpt, he thought the double-digit price ticket would lure extra customers than if Twitter charged $100 a 12 months.
Musk additionally approached his biographer, Isaacson.
“This ought to be accessible to everybody,” Isaacson advised Musk, based on the excerpt. “You want a very low value level, as a result of that is one thing that everybody goes to enroll in.”
Sacks, Calacanis, Isaacson, and a spokesperson for X didn’t reply to a request for remark.
According to the excerpt, Musk was practically settled on charging customers $100 a 12 months till his shut assistant, Jehn Balajadia, argued that the service ought to be extra reasonably priced.
“There’s lots of people who cannot even purchase fuel proper now,” Balajadia mentioned in a single assembly, based on two sources who spoke with the Times reporters.
“You know, like what do folks pay for Starbucks? Like $8?” Musk requested, based on the excerpt.
Musk then pulled out his telephone and tweeted on November 1, 2022: “Twitter’s present lords & peasants system for who has or would not have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the folks! Blue for $8/month.”
About a 12 months later, Twitter was rebranded to X, and the corporate had between 950,000 and 1.2 million premium subscribers — lower than 1% of its whole person base, Bloomberg reported, citing an evaluation from an impartial researcher.
