In an idea sure to torment his liberal journalists, billionaire MAGA darling Elon Musk is flirting with the idea of buying MSNBC.
The network has been spun off by owner Comcast in the latest sign of trouble after a terrible year of plummeting ratings and hysterical anchor performances.
Although it is not for sale, there is widespread speculation that it may change hands.
The blood in the water at MSNBC got Donald Trump Jr.’s tongue wagging on Friday. He joked on X: ‘Hey Elon Musk… I have the funniest idea ever!’
He was responding to a post that falsely claimed that the network is already for sale.
Musk, who launched and won a hostile takeover of Twitter, took the bait.
‘How many?’ he replied in his own post.
While the pair may have been joking, this was the same question he asked in 2017 when a Twitter user urged him to buy the site.
Four years later, he bought the platform for $44 billion and renamed it “X.”
Elon Musk has expressed interest in buying MSNBC as the liberal network is said to be struggling
Donald Trump Jr. tagged Musk on the fake news and wrote: ‘Hey Elon Musk, I have the funniest idea ever!!!’
It comes as Comcast evolves into a new company, many of the cable TV networks that once formed the heart of the entertainment giant, as consumers increasingly ditch their cable TV subscriptions for streaming platforms.
Comcast’s move to spin off its NBCUniversal networks would have been a stunning move a few years ago, as its channel fleet was previously among the company’s most profitable assets.
But the decision means channels like MSNBC, USA, Oxygen, E! and Golf Channel into a separate entity – and placed on a separate balance sheet.
Comcast executives said they will not spin off all the channels and will keep Bravo, the Peacock streaming service and the NBC broadcast network under the parent company.
But by shedding its expensive networks, Comcast is hedging its bets that it can expand its movie studios and theme park industries without being dragged down by the problems of traditional television news.
According to reporting from the WSJ, which broke the story, the new cable company will have an “ownership structure that mirrors Comcast’s” but “will likely need greater scale to thrive.”
This seemed to be on the minds of the Morning Joe panel on Wednesday, as the hosts mocked the move, while clearly understanding that it could drastically change MSNBC.
While trying to downplay the move, Joe Scarborough said his show “could all be fired in a year,” to which Mika Brzezinski chimed in, “Or tomorrow.”
In 2017, Musk similarly asked what the price of Twitter was. Four years later, he bought the platform for $44 billion and renamed it X
As X users commented on Musk’s post, the
Morning Joe has long been one of MSNBC’s most successful programs, but suffered massive ratings losses this week after the hosts revealed they had met with President Trump, whom they had deemed a fascist during the election cycle.
Their average audience is down 20 percent from Monday to Wednesday – and a whopping 45 percent in the 25-54 demographic, to just 49,000 viewers.