Twitter punches well above its financial weight in terms of influence.

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If Musk has a more comprehensive plan to make money from Twitter’s 217 million active daily users he hasn’t left a bread trail capable of being followed.

Under the existing management, Twitter has already outlined a plan to reach 315 million active daily users by next year, but that is a goal not a guarantee.

And Musk’s free-speech aspiration for Twitter risks alienating advertisers - many of whom have abandoned social media platforms like YouTube over concerns about content.

Later this week Twitter will release its quarterly results which will shed some sunlight on how its plans are progressing.

Based on analyst expectations the result will be disappointing and without Musk’s bid it is likely that Twitter’s share price would have come under renewed pressure. If this was to be a quarterly result that justified the Twitter board holding out for a higher offer, it may not have capitulated to Musk so indecently quickly.

The $US54.20 per share offer price is almost 30 per cent below last year’s peak price, which doesn’t represent a vote of confidence in Twitter’s revival prospects under its current management.

The current management will have already begun packing up their desk family photos and pot plants given Musk has at least been transparent about the fact that he doesn’t rate them.

Musk’s success in lobbying Twitter’s shareholders that his offer fully values the company is further evidence that the path back to revenue growth and sustainable profits is a long one with questionable certainty.

There are two sets of shareholders with a horse in the Twitter race.

Musk has secured a large part of his financing using Tesla shares as security.

If Musk’s great free speech experiment doesn’t work and Twitter cannot generate the cash to finance Musk’s loans, he may have to sell some Tesla stock. This prospect will already have created a potential overhang in Tesla shares. Already it has been largely responsible for the 12.8 per cent fall in its shares since Musk took his initial holding in Twitter.

The weakness in Tesla’s share price comes despite last week smashing Wall Street’s expectations to report a 81 per cent increase in revenue over the previous corresponding quarter.

Managing Tesla through the unprecedented supply chain challenges will tax Musk’s expertise. Its shareholders will be understandably wary of Musk’s ability to divide his attention between executing on Tesla and re-engineering Twitter’s business.

Even for the world’s richest man, buying Twitter is littered with risks.

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