The New York Times excerpted a chapter from the book Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter, authored by Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, set to release in mid-September. This book reveals the behind-the-scenes events both before and after Elon Musk acquired Twitter, morphing it into X.
The cherry-picked content delves into Musk’s decision-making process in pricing Twitter Blue, a subscription service, which was later renamed X Premium. Originally priced at around 3-4 dollars per month, with country limitations, Musk revised the price to 8 dollars, approximately 275 Thai Baht per month. Prior to slashing the price, Musk sought advice from a select few individuals.
Among those consulted was David Sacks, an investor, who suggested setting the price at 20 dollars (and rumors of this price emerged), believing it to be appropriate. Any lower would make future price increases challenging. Another was Jason Calacanis, a podcast host who proposed a yearly fee of 99 dollars (equivalent to 8.25 per month), based on psychological pricing strategies. Walter Isaacson, the author of the Elon Musk biography, recommended a lower price for accessibility so that every user would be inclined to subscribe. It is worth noting that the accuracy of these individuals’ involvement has not been confirmed.
Finally settling on the 8-dollar price tag after gathering feedback, Musk justified it during a meeting as an amount that people could easily afford, akin to buying a Starbucks coffee. The impact of this 8-dollar price on subscriber numbers remains unofficial, as X did not release official figures, but nearly 1 million subscribers were reported the previous year.
Source: Business Insider
**TLDR:** The New York Times excerpted a chapter from a book detailing Elon Musk’s pricing decisions for Twitter’s subscription service, revealing insights from consultations with key figures and the rationale behind the chosen price point.
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