‘Oh No’ Gerry Harvey On Twitter

The Financial Review has dared to suggest that Harvey Norman boss Gerry Harvey should buy a computer and “Take to Twitter”.

Likening him to Tesla boss Elon Musk and his run in with the US SEC.

Overnight, tech billionaire Elon Musk demonstrated his Donald Trump-like ability to spark controversy with a short message by tweeting this: “Just want to that the Shortseller Enrichment Commission is doing incredible work. And the name change is so on point!”

Musk was taking a pot-shot at the Securities and Exchange Commission, just five days after settling with the US regulator, which sued him when he suggested – over Twitter, of course – that he had the “funding secured” to take the electric car company private.

The SEC accused Musk of misleading investors and wanted him banned from running any public company. Musk caved in and settled on Saturday, agreeing to step down as Tesla’s chairman for three years and pay a $US20 million ($28 million) fine.

Now the AFR has suggested that ‘In some ways, it’s a tech version of what Harvey Norman’s executive chairman Gerry Harvey has tried to do when his shares have been under pressure – most notably with his suggestion in February that investors should “sell the boat, sell the car, sell the house” and buy Harvey Norman shares if they dropped under $4. They are currently trading at $3.48.

So should Gerry finally get a computer in his office, join Twitter and take his message to the masses as Musk has done?

They concluded ‘For the sake of entertainment, definitely’.

About Post Author

David Richards

David Richards has been writing about technology for more than 30 years. A former Fleet Street journalist, he wrote the Award Winning Series on the Federated Ships Painters + Dockers Union for the Bulletin that led to a Royal Commission. He is also a Logie Winner for Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism with a story called The Werribee Affair. In 1997, he built the largest Australian technology media company and prior to that the third largest PR company that became the foundation company for Ogilvy PR. Today he writes about technology and the impact on both business and consumers.