Elon Musk tried to buy Substack, was rejected, and now he’s worried
Substack’s rise is rattling X, but can it truly rival the platform in the long term?
In 2023, Elon Musk made a bold move: he attempted to acquire Substack shortly after purchasing Twitter (now X). He even offered Substack CEO Chris Best the top job at a merged company. Best declined, choosing to keep Substack independent.
Since then, Substack has been on a growth trajectory. By late 2024, it boasted over 4 million paid subscriptions and tens of millions of active users. The platform has expanded beyond newsletters to include podcasts, videos, and a social media feature called Notes, which allows for short-form posts similar to tweets.
Substack Notes has been particularly appealing to writers and journalists seeking a more civil and focused platform. Unlike X, which has faced criticism for declining moderation and increased noise, Notes offers a space designed around long-form publishing and respectful interaction.
Musk's interest in Substack and his subsequent criticism of Notes as a "Twitter clone" suggest that he sees the platform as a potential threat. Substack's emphasis on creator monetisation and its growing user base indicate that it could indeed pose a challenge to X, especially among content creators and their audiences.
However, X still maintains a significantly larger user base and a more established role in news dissemination. While Substack is making strides, it remains to be seen whether it can match X's scale and influence in the long term.
Substack's growth and innovations have caught Musk's attention and perhaps concern. Whether it can truly rival X will depend on its ability to continue attracting users and creators while maintaining its unique value proposition.