"Here's my plan to save Twitter: let's buy it"

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Hendricks Dewayne <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: October 1, 2016 at 1:04:48 PM EDT
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Here's my plan to save Twitter: let's buy it
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> [Note:  This item comes from friend David Isenberg.  DLH]
>
> Here's my plan to save Twitter: let's buy it
> Corporate sharks are circling around the platform we love. But there is another way: shared ownership, where the 
> community takes control
> By Nathan Schneider
> Sep 29 2016
> <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/29/save-twitter-buy-platform-shared-ownership>
>
> If you ask Wall Street, Twitter is in trouble. The user-base is growing, but not quickly enough. Ad revenue is 
> growing too, but not as quickly as it once did. The only answer to this leveling-out, it seems, is the platform’s 
> acquisition by a bigger corporate bird, which can regurgitate an influx of capital and absorb our tweets into its own 
> data-craving metabolism. Disney, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Google’s parent Alphabet are all circling above Twitter’s 
> wobbly stock price, salivating.
>
> For lots of us users, it’s a different story. Twitter is pretty great. We reporters rely on its instant access to the 
> chatter of the world more than we like to admit. The running commentary of friends and celebrities has turned 
> horrible presidential debates and State of the Unions into Mystery Science Theater 3000. And the platform nurtures 
> communities fighting for justice; historian Anthea Butler has argued, for instance, that Black Twitter has come to 
> inherit the mantle of the Black Church. It also delivers us frequent access to Donald Trump’s id, if we want.
>
> The trouble is, Wall Street’s economy has become Twitter’s economy, even if Wall Street’s view of the platform’s 
> usefulness isn’t necessarily our view. But what if we changed Twitter’s economy? What if users were to band together 
> and buy Twitter for themselves?
>
> This is the kind of thinking at work in the growing movement for platform cooperativism – a series of experiments in 
> shared ownership and governance for online platforms. But it’s an old idea, too. When I mentioned a Twitter buyout to 
> co-op and crowdfunding veteran Danny Spitzberg, he reminded me of the Green Bay Packers. Have you ever wondered why 
> the small-ish city of Green Bay has held on to its really good football team? It’s because, rather than being traded 
> around by billionaires, the team started selling shares to its fans, starting in 1923. That has resulted in sold-out 
> games, affordable ticket prices, tasteful stadium advertising, and an all-around successful, sustainable business 
> model for generations.
>
> I’m sure many of us have ideas about how we could make Twitter meet our needs better. One suggestion that came my 
> way: “actually moderating threats and hatespeech.” But what would it take to put Twitter in the hands of those who 
> rely on it most?
>
> Armin Steuernagel, founder and managing partner at the innovative new investment firm Purpose Fund, suggested to me 
> that it could go down this way: assemble a company and invite investment for shares that grant dividend rights, but 
> not voting; gather about 20% of the funds needed for the buyout, then borrow the rest, and buy. As for the voting 
> rights, they’d be distributed according to a “ladder of engagement,” including investors and general users, but 
> allocating more control to those who contribute the most value to the platform, such as employees and the most active 
> users. Finally, there could be a few “golden shares” with veto rights, perhaps controlled by a foundation 
> representing all users.
>
> It’s a long-shot, Steuernagel admits, but he points out that this kind of thing recently worked with Prokon, a 
> sizable wind-power company that escaped bankruptcy and buyout by converting to a cooperative.
>
> Robin Chase, founder of Zipcar and author of Peers Inc, wonders whether Twitter’s current leaders could play a role. 
> “Could existing employees (or founders) who believe in such a purchase,” she wrote in an email, “be willing to 
> roll-over some of their stock into the new ownership structure?” We might also need to ask this Saudi prince.
>
> [snip]
>
> Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/>



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