Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Elon has decided not to join our board

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 542 posts

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#271

Post by PixyMisa »

smt88 wrote: post #54
axg11 wrote: post #9

A very odd set of events and no explanation regarding Elon's change of mind. A pessimist would think that Elon has decided to go for a "hostile" takeover since he is no longer bound by the percentage holding cap. An optimistic would think that Elon had enough self-awareness to realize it would be an overall distraction for Twitter with little benefit. It amuses me more than it should that the CEO of Twitter has poste…

> An optimistic would think that Elon had enough self-awareness to realize it would be an overall distraction for Twitter with little benefit. Assuming Musk did take over Twitter, he wouldn't need to be much of a distraction. He could dictate a few rules (don't moderate Twitter, don't ban anyone, etc.) and then leave the company to function as it did before. I think what he doesn't realize is that reducing moderation…

The amount of moderation is a completely separate question from whether that moderation is even-handed and the moderators truthful.

Nobody wants bots, but those are not the question in moderation discussions.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#272

Post by dalbasal »

mike_d wrote: post #216
Consultant32452 wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this was a polite way of saying they couldn't agree on terms of his board position. For example, he would probably have been restricted on the kinds of tweets he could make. He recently started a poll asking if he should turn Twitter HQ into a homeless shelter because so few people show up. They would certainly not want him doing that if he's on the board.

There is no agreement on terms. As a member of the board you are required by law to always do and say what is in the best interests of the company and its shareholders. Someone probably sat him down and explained that he doesn't hold a majority of voting shares at Twitter, and that the company and other investors wouldn't put up with his shit. With a 75% majority, the other shareholders could vote to nullify his shar…

At least in online forums, people seem to think "fiduciary duties" are much stricter than they actually are.

It's as if CEOs are dragged into a fiduciary court and forced to justify raising salaries, lowering prices or whatnot.

Irl, fiduciary duty is more about not stealing or cheating shareholders. There isn't a whole lot of legal activity where officers are sued for grey area fiduciary violations.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#273

Post by FranksTV »

Zerverus wrote: post #232
systemvoltage wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With a 75% majority, the other shareholders could vote to nullify his shares and make them worthless. This is unbelievable. Can you share a credible source?

See Facebook founders :shockedpicachu: when Americans find out that corporate governance isn’t nearly as restrictive as democracy.

Facebook wasn't publicly traded when they did that. It's a different beast after you IPO.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#274

Post by PixyMisa »

onion2k wrote: post #200
smt88 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> An optimistic would think that Elon had enough self-awareness to realize it would be an overall distraction for Twitter with little benefit. Assuming Musk did take over Twitter, he wouldn't need to be much of a distraction. He could dictate a few rules (don't moderate Twitter, don't ban anyone, etc.) and then leave the company to function as it did before. I think what he doesn't realize is that reducing moderation…

Assuming Musk did take over Twitter, he wouldn't need to be much of a distraction. He could dictate a few rules (don't moderate Twitter, don't ban anyone, etc.) and then leave the company to function as it did before. Not really. One of the hard things about changing the course of a company is that you actually need people to do the things you want them to do. That means actually being hands on and checking things ar…

Small loss.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#275

Post by polski-g »

makeitdouble wrote: post #69
zarzavat wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not especially intimate with American bureaucracy. Does filing under the wrong schedule really prevent him from joining the board? Can’t he just file a correction?

Had the same thought, and looking at the SEC guideline, it seems 13D is the comprehensive one to be used by default, and 13G can only be filed under specific circumstances. At Elon’s level, it feels a lot more malicious than “oops, wrong form” https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-ba...

Elon is 100% not filing anything. His time is too valuable to be doing TPS reports. His attorney would have done it.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#276

Post by yalogin »

It’s obvious there has been a lot of tension behind the scenes. There is a lot of passive aggression here. Musk in his typici egotistical fashion is probably trying to dictate strategy and direction for Twitter and it was rebuffed. Again, this is conjecture. Parag seems annoyed and trying to project strength.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#277

Post by PixyMisa »

systemvoltage wrote: post #125
axg11 wrote: post #9

A very odd set of events and no explanation regarding Elon's change of mind. A pessimist would think that Elon has decided to go for a "hostile" takeover since he is no longer bound by the percentage holding cap. An optimistic would think that Elon had enough self-awareness to realize it would be an overall distraction for Twitter with little benefit. It amuses me more than it should that the CEO of Twitter has poste…

> There will be distractions ahead... That's very telling, Parag implicitly admits major changes coming up. There is a theory on Twitter that Elon will attempt an outright takeover.

This is Twitter we're talking about. There's at least seven competing theories that space lizards will attempt an outright takeover.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#278

Post by mlindner »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #246
basisword wrote: post #218

Not a surprise if you’ve read any of Musk’s tweets this past weeks. He sounds unhinged. He’s like Kanye West. Occasionally says and does great things but more often than not is tweeting nonsense that could damage the company/brand. You cannot have a board member polling users as to whether or not HQ should be converted to a refugee for the homeless. The uncertainty and stress nonsense like that must cause for employe…

> Not a surprise if you’ve read any of Musk’s tweets this past weeks. He sounds unhinged. The past few weeks? The dude accused a rescue operations leader of being a pedophile after the leader said Musk's stupid giant box wouldn't fit through the passages in the cave. The one where people were having to take off their diving gear and push it through ahead of them because the passages in the caves were so tight. Then t…

> The dude accused a rescue operations leader of being a pedophile after the leader said Musk's stupid giant box wouldn't fit through the passages in the cave. The one where people were having to take off their diving gear and push it through ahead of them because the passages in the caves were so tight.

Every time people re-tell this story, it gets more and more ridiculous.

He wasn't a "rescue operations leader", he was a hobby diver living in the area and acted was an advisor to the actual rescue team.

What got Musk (and others) riled up was not him saying that it wouldn't work, it was him telling Musk "to shove the submarine up his ass" (exact wording "stick his submarine where it hurts") live on a CNN TV interview.

> Then there was a the "fuck California health code, I'm going to keep cranking out cars, who cares if my employees get sick and spread covid" thing a year or so ago.

Except he didn't in fact say anything like that. California had already allowed the factory to open. It was the local alameda county officials preventing him from opening the factory (and other nearby counties had already opened) because they were being slow at approving Tesla's paperwork for how they would operate under Covid. Also other automotive factories elsewhere in the country with even worse Covid were already in operation.

> Then there was the model 3 production meeting where people quit on the spot, to his face, because they were tired of being shouted at.

And that didn't happen.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#279

Post by Closi »

Zerverus wrote: post #232
systemvoltage wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With a 75% majority, the other shareholders could vote to nullify his shares and make them worthless. This is unbelievable. Can you share a credible source?

See Facebook founders :shockedpicachu: when Americans find out that corporate governance isn’t nearly as restrictive as democracy.

This would not be possible in this case - it would be a clear breach of fiduciary responsibility and immediately picked up by musks legal team.

Even in facebooks case before they went public, they were sued for this and ultimately settled for $5.5 billion.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#280

Post by drewrv »

memish wrote: post #150
axg11 wrote: post #9

A very odd set of events and no explanation regarding Elon's change of mind. A pessimist would think that Elon has decided to go for a "hostile" takeover since he is no longer bound by the percentage holding cap. An optimistic would think that Elon had enough self-awareness to realize it would be an overall distraction for Twitter with little benefit. It amuses me more than it should that the CEO of Twitter has poste…

An optimist would think he's going to take it over. Look at his track record. Tesla and SpaceX are industry defining achievements. Fixing Twitter isn't as hard as that.

I think that him taking over Twitter would be terrible for everyone involved.

The general public would be better off if Tesla and/or SpaceX actually accomplished their stated goals. What they’ve done is great but they’re not done and need leadership.

Twitter would be way worse off if he turned it into Gab or 4chan with an edit button. Both their product and their financials.

Musk himself is turning into a cringy Twitter troll. If a friend of mine were acting like that I’d tell them to put the phone down and go for a walk. The less he thinks about Twitter the better.

Post reply on HN