The Epic Showdown: Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg

Two billionaires agreed to the cage match back in June by posting on their respective social media platforms (Musk on X / Twitter, Zuckerberg on Instagram). There hasn’t been much talk about the fight since the end of June. The tenets of the match intensified with the debut of Meta’s Threads app.

Confirmation

A day after Elon Musk challenged Mark Zuckerberg to a “cage match” on social media last month, Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, received a text from Mr. Zuckerberg. The question he asked Mr. White, who is the head of the world’s premier mixed martial arts competition, a form of combat in cage-like rings, was whether Mr. Musk was serious about the idea of fighting. White made a phone call to Mr. Musk, who runs Tesla, Twitter, and SpaceX, and got confirmation that Musk was game for the fight.

Dana White has been mediating between Musk and Zuckerberg.

It would be an extraordinary spectacle, even within the bragging-filled sphere of the tech industry, if Mr. Musk, 52 and Mr. Zuckerberg,39 faced one another in the upcoming matchup.

While X/Twitter remain highly dominant in the “short-form posting” space, his new social network, Threads, has the potential to pose the biggest competition to X/Twitter’s dominance in the space. Which, talk of the fight follows Zuckerberg’s apparent attempt to rehabilitate his image to win over Musk’s stans.

Post by @zuck

View on Threads

Despite Zuckerberg suggesting August 26th for their cage fight, Musk has yet to confirm it. Zuckerberg says he’s “ready today” to fight Elon Musk.

Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on 𝕏.

All proceeds will go to charity for veterans.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2023

A post from Musk early this morning says he will livestream Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s cage match on his Twitter, which is currently changing its name to X. Apparently, Musk will donate the proceeds of the match to a veterans charity. Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X/Twitter, reposted Musk’s tweet with the comment that she is clearing her schedule.

Post by @zuck

View on Threads

Zuckerberg replied to Musk’s post saying the fight would be “livestreamed on X” with proceeds going to veterans’ charities by saying they should “use a more reliable platform that can actually raise money for charity.” (Facebook and Instagram have a built-in fundraising feature, while X / Twitter does not.)

As it turns out, there is at least one person who does not seem to be a fan of a fight: Maye Musk, mother of Mr. Musk.

Insight on Meta. (Home to Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Messenger, and now- Threads.)

Recently, social media platform Meta announced upbeat results for its second-quarter, and issued expectations for the third quarter that were better than expected, thus indicating improved conditions for digital advertising in the third quarter. The management’s outlook during the earnings call reflected a positive tone, backed by a growing digital ad market, a compelling product roadmap, and positive commentary during the earnings announcement.

After launching a month ago, Meta’s Twitter rival Threads has struggled to retain users, according to fresh industry estimates. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, however, said he was “quite optimistic” about the app during the company’s earnings call last month.

The number of daily active users on Threads has decreased 82% from launch to July 31, according to market research firm Similarweb and Sensor Tower, with just 8 million users accessing the app each day. The number of daily active users has plummeted to the lowest level since the day after the app’s release, when it peaked at about 44 million.

Following the news, Meta’s share price increased 1.88% to $316.56. Based on 41 Wall Street analysts, Meta has been rated ‘Strong Buy’. The average price target is $377.70, an upside of 19.31% with a high forecast of $435.00 and a low forecast of $285.00.

In the long run, “Meta will benefit from the digital ad trend, innovate with AI, and participate in the build-out of the metaverse.”

The key takeaways/market update is a series by AxeHedge, which serves as an initiative to bring compact and informative In/Visible Talks recaps/takeaways on leading brands and investment events happening around the globe.

Do keep an eye out for our posts by subscribing to our channel and social media.

None of the material above or on our website is to be construed as a solicitation, recommendation or offer to buy or sell any security, financial product or instrument. Investors should carefully consider if the security and/or product is suitable for them in view of their entire investment portfolio. All investing involves risks, including the possible loss of money invested, and past performance does not guarantee future performance.