While fretting over billionaire Elon Musk’s latest maneuvers as Twitter’s biggest single shareholder, on Monday’s CBS Mornings, correspondent Vladimir Duthiers hyped critics comparing the world’s richest man to a “Bond villain.” The attack line came amid speculation the SpaceX and Tesla founder may be planning a hostile takeover of the social media giant.
“Now to the latest twist in the Elon Musk Twitter saga....We told you last week, the world’s richest man recently bought a 9.2% stake in the social media company that he has often criticized,” Duthiers reminded viewers. He then revealed the newest development: “Twitter offered him a seat on the board and Musk said he was looking forward to working with the CEO and the board. But last night, Twitter’s CEO revealed Musk passed on the offer the day it was supposed to take effect.”
After reading a quote from Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal arguing “this is for the best,” Duthiers remarked: “...so we were sort of joking with Shawna Thomas, our executive producer, and a lot of people think Elon Musk is sort of like a Bond villain now. That is a very Bond villain move to pull.”
Co-host Gayle King actually came to Musk’s defense: “He is not a Bond villain, he just thinks outside the box. It’s never boring. He’s always got a master game plan.”
Fellow co-host Tony Dokoupil whined:
Is there a master plan? I don’t know. He spent the weekend also disparaging and criticizing Twitter, pointing out that some famous people don’t tweet that much. And I don’t know, do you want that out of your biggest shareholder?
King shot back: “Elon doesn’t just do stuff randomly, I don’t believe that.”
Dokoupil sneered: “But the question is if you want to get richer do you buy stock in Twitter at the moment? I don’t know, based on what Musk has been tweeting about.”
When even Gayle King feels the need to defend Elon Musk against comments from her own colleagues, it says the network clearly went over the line.
CBS’s attempt to paint Musk as some sort of evil movie super-villain was brought to viewers by Amazon and Allstate. You can fight back by letting these advertisers know what you think of them sponsoring such content.
Here is a full transcript of the April 11 segment:
7:49 AM ET
VALDIMIR DUTHIERS: Now to the latest twist in the Elon Musk Twitter saga. Want to keep you holding on the edge of your seat. We told you last week, the world’s richest man recently bought a 9.2% stake in the social media company that he has often criticized. Twitter offered him a seat on the board and Musk said he was looking forward to working with the CEO and the board.
But last night, Twitter’s CEO revealed Musk passed on the offer the day it was supposed to take effect. Quote, “I believe this is for the best,” Parag Agrawal said. Adding, “Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input.” Musk tweeted this early – he tweeted this early this morning [laughing emoji] – it has now been deleted.
TONY DOKOUPIL: What does that mean, Vlad?
DUTHIERS: We, I mean, it’s – so we were sort of joking with Shawna Thomas, our executive producer, and a lot of people think Elon Musk is sort of like a Bond villain now. That is a very Bond villain move to pull. Like a little like emoji saying – [laughs].
GAYLE KING: He is not a Bond villain, he just thinks outside the box. It’s never boring. He’s always got a master game plan.
DOKOUPIL: I will say it’s never boring.
KING: Never boring.
DOKOUPIL: Is there a master plan? I don’t know. He spent the weekend also disparaging and criticizing Twitter, pointing out that some famous people don’t tweet that much. And I don’t know, do you want that out of your biggest shareholder?
KING: Elon doesn’t just do stuff randomly, I don’t believe that.
DUTHIERS: Elon’s gonna Elon. I was intrigued by the – he’s worth $273 billion which, guys, is $100 billion more than the next guy on the list, right? That’s Jeff Bezos at $188 billion. The number-four guy, Bill Gates, is only $133 billion, with a “B.”
KING: I love the “only.”
DUTHIERS: I know, exactly.
DOKOUPIL: But the question is if you want to get richer do you buy stock in Twitter at the moment? I don’t know, based on what Musk has been tweeting about.
DUTHIERS: Well, Tesla stock has been surging, Tesla stock has been surging.
