Musk polls followers on converting Twitter HQ to homeless shelter; Bezos likes idea

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, attends the opening of the Tesla factory Berlin Brandenburg in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022. (Patrick Pleul/Pool via AP)

Two of the world's richest people are pitching in ideas to tackle the issue of homelessness, suggesting that Twitter Inc. convert its headquarters to a shelter home.

Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos on Sunday backed an idea put forth by Elon Musk, who recently became Twitter's largest shareholder, to convert the social networking firm's San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter as few people are working there during the pandemic.

Bezos tweeted an article by technology-focused blog GeekWire from May 2020 about Amazon's eight-floor family homeless shelter attached to its Seattle headquarters, saying the initiative worked out great and makes it easy for employees who wish to volunteer.

Bezos also suggested converting at least a portion of Twitter's headquarters, if not all of it, into a homeless shelter. Musk agreed in another tweet, calling it a "Great idea."

Musk, who has more than 81 million followers on Twitter, started a poll on Saturday, asking users to vote if the building should be converted. The poll gained over a million votes in less than a day, with more that 90 per cent saying yes.

The chief executive of electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc TSLA.O, who frequently tweets about his company and other topics, has been known to leave people confused as to whether he is joking. However, Musk clarified this time he was not joking. "I'm serious about this one btw," he tweeted, following up on the topic on Sunday.

A separate poll by Musk on Sunday asked if "w" should be deleted from Twitter's name, leaving two voting options, "yes" and "of course."

Musk had suggested a raft of changes to the Twitter Blue premium subscription service on Saturday, including reducing its price, banning advertising and giving an option to pay in the cryptocurrency dogecoin.

(Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; editing by Matthew Lewis)