On purchasing Twitter: Mr. Musk acknowledged that he went ahead with the $44 billion buyout of the social media giant because he foresaw losing his legal battle to back out of it. Acquiring Twitter has resulted in a rollercoaster of emotions, he revealed, adding that managing the company has resembled sitting on a cactus. Despite the prickly experience, he maintained that buying Twitter was the right decision.

On profitability: In the past six months, Musk has morphed into a merciless budget barber, cutting staff and implementing radical changes to the platform – such as an $8 monthly fee for a blue-check toupee – in an attempt to halt Twitter’s financial blood-letting. While the now skinny-pants Twitter has experienced more outages and user tantrums than ever before, Musk shrugged off these hiccups like a boss. He declared Twitter on the fast track to cash-flow positivity this quarter (without any evidence to show off) and said that like devoted homing pigeons, advertisers were returning to the platform.

Headcount: Mr. Musk revealed that the Twitter employee roster now sits at a whopping 1,500 – a comedown from the “just under 8000” staff who once graced its payroll. Defending the massive farewell party, he asserted that the company was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy within four months, and that “drastic action” was as essential as oxygen. However, he conceded that axing so many employees was “not fun at all” and admitted that he couldn’t break up with all of them in person: “It’s not possible to chat with that many people face to face without losing your voice.”