BREAKING: Elon Musk Announces Intention to Buy MSNBC, Is This a Joke?

Elon Musk called MSNBC the "scum of the Earth". He said the channel "caters to children". Just a few days ago, he said "MSNBC is collapsing". And now he's posting memes about buying this TV channel, according to CNN. Is Elon Musk joking? But Musk's posts are adding to concerns as MSNBC employees are feeling about Donald Trump's re-election and the announced separation of Comcast's cable channel, which are related. In fact, there have been more than one billionaire who has contacted acquaintances at MSNBC to express interest in buying this cable TV channel. One of the sources mentioned that external interest is reliable because it shows that opposing figures like Elon Musk (famous for buying Twitter to destroy it) are not the only ones pursuing potential. But contrary to the claim that President Trump's allies are posting on X, Comcast did not put up a 'MSNBC for sale' sign. If Comcast CEO Brian Roberts really wanted to sell this independent cable news channel, he could have done it already. Instead, he is spinning off MSNBC and half a dozen other cable channels into 'SpinCo', a pure-play cable programming company. Hopefully, the separation of additional pressure-bearing channels will drive the stock prices of both Comcast and "SpinCo" when profitable. Comcast said the transaction will take about a year. At this time, is anyone able to rush to buy MSNBC? It's complicated. "SpinCo" is structured as a spun off company for tax exemption and the immediate divestment of an asset would have tax implications to be able to prevent any such sale. “Normally, we would expect a two-year waiting period before any other potential strategic actions of SpinCo to maintain the tax-free nature of the spin, although we believe there are scenarios where industry consolidation including SpinCo could happen sooner,” Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne wrote in a note to investors last week. (Morgan Stanley is a financial advisor to Comcast). In addition, "SpinCo" executives may conclude that the sale of MSNBC is not in the best interests of shareholders, as the channel's loyal audience is a form of leverage in negotiations with cable distributors. The participating executives said they intend to become hunters, not prey - buying new channels, not selling off old ones. Selling MSNBC to win the support of the president-elect is simply not a plan, as the new structure will allow for more investment in MSNBC, CNBC, and other brands. Musk's allies continue to joke However, one should not overlook Musk's posts. This billionaire is famous for foreshadowing his pursuit of Twitter with a tweet asking, "How much is it worth?". On Friday, he also wrote about MSNBC: "How much does it cost?". He replied to Donald Trump, Jr., who posted a (false) meme saying that MSNBC is being sold and wrote, "Hey @elonmusk, I have the funniest idea ever!!!" Joe Rogan jumped in and said, "If you buy MSNBC, I want Rachel Maddow's job." (He misspelled her name.) "I'll wear the same outfit and glasses, and I'll say the same lies." Fans of the follow-the-trio and Musk continued to post about this idea all week, at a time when promoting a meme discriminating against gay people comparing Maddow to Mark Cuban. On Sunday, Trump Jr. wrote: "I think I've started something here. The number of people who want this to happen is truly amazing!!!!" Former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz replied, "I 100 percent want this to happen." Ridicule is the main point, and perhaps there is nothing more than that. The 'dominant media model' While Musk and his friends exchange memes and tease each other, there is a serious undertone here. It's called "media manipulation". This happened in Hungary when "close allies of far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also bought private television and radio channels to convert them into government-supporting media channels," CNN reported earlier this month. "Media capture" is a subset of what Protect Democracy's executive director Ian Bassin calls "authoritarian capture," in which "the government uses its power to enforce loyalty from the private sector." On a recent episode of "Inside the Hive" on Vanity Fair, Bassin said, "I think we're in danger of seeing that happen across the U.S. market in every sector." Gábor Scheiring, a former member of the Hungarian parliament, wrote in a recent essay for Politico that Orbán "consolidates control of the media through centralized propaganda, market pressure, and loyal billionaires". In the United States, he wrote, 'billionaires with libertarian ideas should not sit still as they did in Hungary, witnessing the right-wing party taking over the media.'