Tucker Saves Twitter
Well, that might be overstating it…but Tucker Carlson’s announcement that he is going to move his public efforts to Twitter certainly didn’t hurt the company owned by Elon Musk.
We know that Carlson has a contract to work exclusively for Fox, and as long as they keep paying him, he’s essentially stuck until 2025 when the contract is up. Before you feel too sorry for him, it’s reported that he is paid $25 million a year…at this point, to do nothing.
He posted a video…yes, on Twitter…saying he would be moving his style of journalism to the platform, and noting that his deal with Fox did not prohibit him from posting to social media. As a lawyer, I’d call that a loophole you could drive a truck through…Fox did not care about his social media posts, but once those posts become full-length shows, they’ll have a different view.
Carlson also says the company has breached its contract with him, so regardless, he can do what he wants. That’s a good aggressive public stand to take; the legality of any of this would be determined in court—unless the two sides come to a settlement agreement and both move on.
There are so many unverifiable statements about Twitter…but one of the facts conceded by all parties is that Elon Musk vastly overpaid for the property last year. At the time he took over, he noted that he envisioned Twitter expanding beyond the simple 280-character social media platform, and talked about a broader multi-media effort.
This could well be the first step toward that…but regardless, any company that gets Tucker Carlson at this point is going to be worth more, even if it does not mean direct additional revenue.
So if, in fact, Carlson moves to Twitter as his outlet…it might be one of the few bold moves Musk could make to begin to recover his investment. And as with so many things so far tied to Musk…his vision turns out to be a winner.
