Elon Musk MSNBC Acquisition Interest

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Overview

Elon Musk MSNBC Acquisition Interest refers to American entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk expressing interest in purchasing the television news channel and website MSNBC after Comcast announced plans to spin it off as its own company. The speculation became a viral subject of memes and reactions in late 2024 as users imagined various developments if Musk were to acquire the cable news network.

Background

On October 31st, 2024, the Wall Street Journal^[1] reported that the American media conglomerate Comcast was considering creating a separate company for its cable networks, including the news television channel MSNBC. On November 20th, Comcast confirmed^[2] that it is moving forward with a plan to spin off its NBCUniversal cable TV networks, including the channels MSNBC, E! and USA.

On November 22nd, Donald Trump Jr., the son of President-elect Donald Trump, quoted a news post about the rumored sale, tagging the entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk, who in 2022 acquired the social media platform Twitter. The post received over 15,000 reposts and 132,000 likes on X^[3] in three days. Later that day, Musk replied, "How much does it cost?" with the reply gaining over 9,900 reposts and 94,000 likes on X^[4] in three days (exchange shown below).

Developments

In the following days, Elon Musk continued to make posts in which he expressed interest in acquiring MSNBC, and memes referencing the potential acquisition.

On November 23rd, 2024, Musk quoted^[5] a post about his interest in making the acquisition, commenting, "The most entertaining outcome, especially if ironic, is most likely 😂." Later that day, podcaster Joe Rogan jokingly suggested^[6] hiring him to replace MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, writing that he will "wear the same outfit and glasses, and tell the same lies," with Musk replying,^[7] "deal" (exchange shown below).

Online Reactions

The reply prompted memes that imagined the possible results of Elon Musk's acquisition of MSNBC, should it happen. On November 23rd, 2024, X^[8] user @cb_doge posted a six-panel meme captioned, "MSNBC's New Panel after Elon Musk takeover:" that showed Elon Musk's costumes worn during his SNL guest appearance in 2021. The post (shown below) received over 650 reposts and 4,400 likes in two days.

Multiple users suggested that Elon Musk should hire American talk show host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as MSNBC's new host. For example, on November 23rd, 2024, X^[9] user @TSDmemes made one such post that received over 1,100 reposts and 14,000 likes in two days (shown below).