7 Years Ago Today: Elon Musk Asked About Twitter’s Price for the First Time

twitter (Now X): Seven years ago today, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk issued a tweet that would come to be seen as the opening salvo in what would become one of history’s largest tech acquisitions. At the time, a tweet that read

simply “How much is Twitter?” (Now x) felt like an off-the-cuff remark, but hindsight now frames it as a hint at Musk’s growing obsession with the social media platform.

Compare that to 2017, and Twitter was a very different company. Though it had become a home for real-time

news, interacting with celebrities, and public discourse, the company had many problems: user growth was flat, the company struggled to find a way to monetize, and its stock price was lackluster. Musk’s question might have

sounded random, but for a preceptor who made his name and fortune by identifying undervalued assets and then using them to great effect, it was anything but.

It’s a relationship that, for Musk, has only intensified over the years. Musk used the platform to pipe up with everything from “Tesla updates” to major news about SpaceX. Most of his tweets are peppered with controversy,

gaining him worldwide attention and rendering him one of Twitter’s most followed and polarizing figures. But

behind all this, his fascination was growing with Twitter’s impact on public discourse and free expression.

When Musk made his $44 billion bid to buy Twitter in 2022, tech and business worlds went into paroxysms—but

for those who remembered that fateful tweet seven years prior, the move almost felt inevitable. Musk framed his

acquisition as a mission to champion free speech and increase the utility of the platform. “Twitter has tremendous potential. I will unlock it,” he said in a statement announcing the deal.

Of course, the road to acquisition wasn’t totally straight. Musk had to go through courts of law, regulatory

scrutiny, and backlash from some Twitter employees and users. Critics have questioned his motivations and what

his ownership will look like reshaping the platform. But for better or worse, Musk’s leadership has indeed propelled Twitter into a new chapter in its existence, including the rebranding as “X.”

In hindsight, that innocuous tweet really wasn’t all that spontaneous. In the mind of Musk, though, that could just

have been the genesis-a long-term vision whereby he transforms Twitter into a bedrock for other ventures regarding technological, communicational, and social amalgamation.

This moment in history underscores Musk’s unique approach to innovation-a mix of curiosity, boldness, and the

will to take risks. This serves as a reminder of how small actions, such as asking a question, ripple out to change the course of industries and public life.

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