Twitter has operated for 16 years and public for about 10, explosive growth of their userbase is in their past and monetization strategies have already been implemented for years. There is no reason to believe it has the potential for such growth.

Then why were they holding the stock the day before Musk got involved?

They feel there is potential for growth, just not flights of fancy like you describe.

If you expect Twitter to 20x in the next 5 years, then

a: You're dreaming.

b: You're absolutely expecting a quick short-term gain.

> b: You're absolutely expecting a quick short-term gain

To put this in perspective, 20x in 5 years is an 82% CAGR. And five years is far short of the length of an economic cycle. Traditionally, "long term investing" meant across at least one whole business cycle.

> If I expect Twitter to 20x in the next 5 years why would I want to sell my share to Elon?

Vote with your dollars: buy shares at a price higher than Elon's. Borrow if you must. If you are not ready to take that risk, then maybe your expectations are more wishful thinking than anything real.