Should Elon Musk stay out of politics? The Twitter poll verdict says ...

NEW DELHI: Should Elon Musk "stay out of politics" or should he "keep shooting his feet?"
Well, this was not a random survey. It was yet another feedback exercise by the maverick businessman, who has used Twitter for his surprise polls, ever since he acquired the popular social media platform after a tumultuous takeover.
Musk, one of the richest businessmen in the world, has cofounded six companies including electric car maker Tesla, rocket producer SpaceX and tunneling startup Boring Company. But it is the acquisition of Twitter on October 28, 2022 that has seen him court controversies like never before.
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The result of Musk's latest poll has not come as a surprise - with 57.2% of the respondents saying that the Twitter owner should "keep shooting his feet" as against 42.8% who felt that he should "Stay out of politics".
The result of this poll notwithstanding, Musk is already known for his strong opinions on politics and politicians.
His latest take on politics was a tweet on January 5 asking if "Kevin McCarthy should be Speaker".
The context of Musk's latest poll on politics can be traced to almost 10 years back when on April 9, 2013 he wrote on Twitter "No more political comments for me now that I've shot off both my feet."
Clearly, it's an old dilemma for the Twitter CEO.
Musk's political leanings
When it comes to politics, it is difficult to understand where Elon Musk stands. From favouring Democrats to Republicans to being indifferent - we have seen several contradicting stands taken by Musk on politics.
On Nov 8, 2022 Musk tweeted: "To be clear, my historical party affiliation has been Independent, with an actual voting history of entirely Democrat until this year." He followed this tweet with an addition: "And I’m open to the idea of voting Democrat again in the future."
Shortly after Musk bought Twitter, he tweeted his support for Republicans in November’s midterm elections.
Twitter turmoil
Elon Musk's Twitter acquistion was not without its share of suspense and drama.
He started buying Twitter shares in January 2022, becoming the company's largest shareholder by April with a 9.1% ownership stake. Later, Musk made an unsolicited offer to purchase the company, which Twitter's board initially responded to with a "poison pill" strategy to resist a hostile takeover, before unanimously accepting Musk's buyout offer of $44 billion on April 25.
In July, Musk surprised everyone by announcing his intention to terminate the agreement, asserting that Twitter had breached their agreement by refusing to crack down on spambot accounts.
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Finally, after several ups and downs, the deal was closed on October 27, with Musk immediately becoming Twitter's new owner and CEO, and Twitter was taken private.
On October 28, 2022 he tweeted 'the bird is freed."
Since then, Twitter has been making headlines, mostly for the wrong reasons.
Twitter polls
Twitter poll has become a new arsenal in Musk's armoury. He uses the social media platform to elicit opinion of his followers on various issues. Whether or not he follows the results is a different matter altogether.
In another such surprise poll on Twitter, Musk was voted out as the CEO of the company.
On December 19, Musk tweeted: "Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll."
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The results, to his surprise, was Yes - 57.5% and No - 42.5%.
Musk, who is yet to act on this, said after the results that he doubted the reliability of the poll and felt that the vote may have been rigged.
SpaceX
SpaceX has always been a vital part of Musk’s fortune. One of the keys to SpaceX’s success is that it’s carefully controlled by Musk and close confidants such as his brother Kimbal and fellow Paypal co-founder Luke Nosek, who have both been directors.
Musk activated Starlink in Ukraine in late February after internet services were disrupted because of Russia's invasion. SpaceX has since given it thousands of terminals.
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The billionaire boss of Tesla said Starlink was spending nearly $20 million a month, he called it a "burn", for maintaining satellite services in Ukraine. He recently said that SpaceX had spent about $80 million to enable and support Starlink in Ukraine.
Tesla
Musk has seen his wealth plummet to $124 billion after Tesla shares tumbled in recent weeks. His fortune had peaked at $340 billion on November 4, 2021, and he remained the world's richest person until he was overtaken in December by Bernard Arnault, the French tycoon behind luxury goods powerhouse LVMH.
The decline in Tesla shares has been so steep - the shares fell 65% in 2022 - and Musk has sold so much this year to help cover his Twitter purchase, that they're no longer his biggest asset.
$200 billion loss
Musk has reportedly become the first person to lose $200 billion in net worth in a period of 13 months. As per a report by Bloomberg, the Tesla and Twitter CEO’s fortune peaked at $340 billion on November 4, 2021 after he became the world’s richest person in January 2021 with a net worth of more than $185 billion.
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Bloomberg says that his wealth has dropped to $137 billion following a recent drop in Tesla shares. It is to be noted that Tesla exceeded a $1 trillion market capitalisation for the first time in October 2021, joining the likes of Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet.