Discussion on Advertising and Company Economics

Um,

what was that trip like? And obviously, you know that there's a public

perception that, and, and you're clarifying this now,

um, but there's a public perception that that was part of a apology

tour, if you will.

There w-

That this had been said online. There was all of the criticism.

There was advertisers leaving. We talked to Bob Iger today.

I hope they stop.

You hope-

Uh, don't advertise.

You don't want them to advertise?

No.

What do you mean?

Uh, if, if somebody's gonna try to blackmail me

with advertising, blackmail me with

money,

go yourself.

But-

Go

yourself.

Is that clear?

I, I hope it is.

Hey, Bob, if you're in the audience.

Well, well, let me ask you then...

That's how I feel.

How-

Don't advertise.

How do you think then about the economics of, of X?

If, if, if, if part of the underlying model,

at least today, and maybe it

needs to shift, maybe the answer is it needs to shift away from

advertising.

Um, if, if you believe that this is the one part of your

business where you will be beholden to those who,

uh, have this view-

G-

What do you do?

-F-Y.

I, I, I understand that, but there's a reality too.

Right?

Yes. No, no, it, I, I, no-

I mean, Linda Yaccarino is right here, and she's gotta sell advertising.

A-absolutely. So, um... No, no, to- totally.

So, so, w- No, no, actually, what, what this advertising boycott, uh, is,

uh, is, is gonna do, it's, it's gonna kill the company.

And do you think that the co-

I, I, but-- And the whole world will know

that those advertisers killed the company, and we will document it in great detail.

But there are-- Those advertisers, I imagine, are gonna say,

they're gonna say, "We

didn't kill the company."

Oh, yeah.

They're gonna say-

Tell it to, tell it to Earth.

But they're gonna say that, they're gonna say, "Elon,

that you killed the company

because you said these things, and that they were inappropriate things,

and they didn't feel comfortable on the platform." Right?

And let's, and let's-

That's, that's what they're gonna say.

And let's see how Earth responds to that.

So let me a-- Okay, this, then this goes back to the-

We'll m- We'll both make our cases.

Right.

And we'll see

what the outcome is.

What are the economics of that for you?

I mean, you, you have enormous resources, so you can actually keep this company

going for a very long time. Would you keep it going for a long time

if there was no

advertising?

I mean, if the company fails because of an

adver-advertiser boycott, it will fail

because of an adver-advertiser boycott, and that will be what bankrupted the

company, and that's what w- everybody on Earth will know.

But what, what do you think, then, of the...

I, I guess-

And then it will cease to exist

... this goes back to the idea of trust, though.

I-

Then it'll be gone,

and it'll be gone because of an advertiser boycott.

But, but you recognize that some of those people

are gonna say that they didn't

feel comfortable on the platform, and I, I wonder, I just wonder and ask you

and, and think about that for a second.

Tell it to the judge.

But the, but the judge is gonna be, uh-

The judge is the public