From Tesla to SpaceX, what Elon Musk touches turns to gold. Twitter may be different

Elon Musk has been founding companies since the dawn of the internet age. He's led Tesla, SpaceX and PayPal to be the blue chips that they are today.

But earlier this year, Musk set in motion a $44 billion acquisition that doesn't fit the pattern of his previous successes. He initiated a takeover of Twitter, the social network where he often spouts off his opinions. Then he tried to back out, kicking off a vicious legal battle before saying that he would, in fact, buy the company. The deal is expected to close this week.

Musk starts and grows companies. But Twitter, which has struggled to turn consistent profits for years, needs something more to become a success story, said Andy Wu, who teaches business strategy at Harvard Business School.

"Musk has no experience in managing organizational change and there's