After his dramatic acquisition of social media giant Twitter for $44 billion, Tesla chief Elon Musk teased buying more iconic American companies, apparently to restore them. In a flurry of tweets, Musk claimed that he might buy Coca-Cola to "put cocaine back in" and "McDonald's to fix ice-cream machines".
"Next I’m buying Coca-Cola to put the cocaine back in," Musk tweeted on Wednesday.
Next I’m buying Coca-Cola to put the cocaine back in
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 28, 2022
A Twitter user responded by sharing a photo of the first publicly-sold Coca-Cola bottle from 1894 which contained 3.5 grams of cocaine. "Bring it back," the user said, to which Musk responded that a full cocaine Coca-Cola "Kicks Red Bull’s ass!"
The veteran beverage company is said to have derived its name from its two primary ingredients: coca leaves and kola nuts. While coca leaves are said to be the base from which the psychoactive drug cocaine is extracted, kola nuts are a source of caffeine.
Even as a joke, the soft drinks’ company with a market cap of $284 billion makes Twitter look like small-fry, Bloomberg reported. Although the richest man in the world, Musk’s own fortune stands at $253 billion at present, ahead of Jeff Bezos, his nearest rival, who is worth $162 billion, but less than Coca-Cola’s market cap, the report said.
In the same thread, Dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus, who goes by the Twitter name "Shibetoshi Nakamoto", asked Musk if he could buy Fox as he wanted to watch another season of the 2002 sci-fi ‘Firefly’". To this Musk wrote: "Some sci-fi that actually features sci-fi would be great."
can you buy fox I want another season of “firefly”
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) April 28, 2022
Soon after his post on Coca Cola, Musk shared a screenshot of a previous tweet in which he had said: "Now I'm going to buy McDonald's and fix all the ice cream machines." Posting on the screenshot, Musk jokingly wrote: "Listen I can't do miracles ok".
Listen, I can’t do miracles ok pic.twitter.com/z7dvLMUXy8
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 28, 2022
Musk is known to throw ideas on social media that often sparks debate. Earlier, he had asked Twitter users if he should sell 10 percent of his Tesla stock to pay for unrealised capital gains. After the poll, participants responded in favour of a share sale, Musk sold off nearly $7 billion in Tesla shares.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
First Published: Apr 28, 2022 5:00 PM IST
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