Comment by highwaylights

I can get on board with all of the above in principle, but I think you've made a strong case for suggesting it's in a tailspin.

It's theoretically salvageable, but I don't see a version of a salvaged Twitter that is compatible with his worldview.

He is a colourful, loud, opinionated public figure. That's great for his personal Twitter and his follower count, but it's terrible if you're trying to convince the world that you're a suitable custodian of a free public square.

Mark Zuckerberg is beige as often as he's able to be on just about everything. Tim Cook speaks on issues of privacy when it's relevant and otherwise says as little as possible. Reddit is as un-opinionated on content as they can possibly be.

Having any divisive opinion by definition divides your support base. Usually in half.

I can only assume Musk-brand libertarian free-for-all social media is a niche product (potentially a large niche, but a niche nonetheless) that's very probably worth some amount significantly less than $40 billion.