By
Bhushan Akolkar
April 25th, 2024
Earlier, Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg had agreed to a Jiu-Jitsu fight in a cage with Tesla CEO Elon Musk following social media pressure.
In what was described to be the biggest Jiu-Jitsu fight of the century, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk had agreed to lock each other in a physical contest. The fight was ostensibly triggered by Mario Nawfal, CEO of Web3 incubator platform IBC Group, after highlighting the competitive nature between Twitter and Meta in the social media industry. However, Musk’s mother Maye Musk – popularly known for her model and dietitian career – canceled the fight before it even materialized.
Notably, Maye emphasized the fight was canceled through Twitter as more people cheered on either side. In a video podcast, Musk joked about how his body mass could help him win the fight even though Zuckerberg could have the skills in Jiu Jitsu.
“Actually, I canceled the fight. I haven’t told them yet. But I will continue to say the fight is canceled, just in case..,” she emphasized.
Interestingly, Musk replied with an emoji of face and tears of joy, which prompted mixed reactions from the followers. Reportedly, the cage fight that was to be undertaken through a UFC style between Musk and Zuckerberg would use Joe Rogan as a potential referee. Already, UFC President Dana White had confirmed that he had spoken to both Elon and Zuckerberg and indicated that they are serious. However, Maye insisted that the two should fight in words only or through an armchair.
“No joking. Fight with words only. In armchairs. 4 feet apart. The funniest person wins,” she noted in a tweet.
Twitter vs Meta
While Twitter is a private company that was acquired by Musk late last year with approximately $44 billion, Meta Platforms is a Family of Apps (FoA) and Reality Labs (RL) segments including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, among others. Notably, Meta is currently valued at approximately $730.19 billion with its stock market up approximately 133 percent YTD to trade around $280 on Friday.
The two social media entities have been competing on obtaining the highest number of online advertisers, but Musk through the latest Twitter CEO, Linda Yaccarino, a former global advertising and partnerships chairperson at NBCUniversal Media, has taken a different stance via free speech.
As of March, Meta Platforms noted that its family of apps recorded monthly active people of about 3.81 billion. Facebook alone reported monthly active users (MAUs) of about 2.99 billion as of March 31, 2023. During the Q1 report, Zuckerberg insisted that the company is focused on artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure future growth prospects.