Elon Musk jokes about buying Manchester United. Not every Tesla fan is laughing

Elon Musk is widely credited for taking Tesla to the top of the electric car world. But his Twitter posts have also often caused him problems.

Having planned to buy Twitter, Elon Musk set his sights on Manchester United football club. The CEO of Tesla and the richest man in the world at the moment took to his Twitter account again to make his intentions public, although he did not reveal any details and eventually said that he was “joking”.

Known for his frequent tweets on a wide variety of topics – most of them frivolous – Musk took to the microblogging platform once again to make his latest announcement. “I’m buying Manchester United.” The four words have, as expected, attracted a lot of attention from netizens as well as football fans around the world. But while he did the same thing when he wanted to buy Twitter, Musk is now trying to get out of a $44 billion deal for the social media company and has been sued for it.

As for Manchester United, Musk eventually tweeted that he wasn’t serious. “It’s an old joke on Twitter. “I don’t buy any sports team,” he wrote. “Although, if it was any team, it would be Man I. They were my favorite team as a child.” And again the reaction was sharp and fast. “It’s very delicate to joke about Ilon. You should apologise,” wrote one user. “No kidding, so sensitive, some of us take football for granted, I breathe football, eat football. It’s all Manchester United, I’m depressed because of football and you come around joking because you have money. Rehearse your jokes,” wrote another.

Even Tesla fans don’t seem to be too amused. In the end, many believe Musk should be taking Tesla more seriously rather than announcing acquisition offers. Tesla investors were also on edge because any major purchase made by Musk would likely cost Tesla. In April alone, he sold about $8.5 billion worth of Tesla stock.

Musk has a rather eccentric character and an unconventional style of doing business. But his sudden statements often don’t sit well with investors in the well-known companies he runs, most notably Tesla.

Date of first publication: Aug 17, 2022, 10:57 am IST