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Notice of termination of Twitter merger agreement

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Re: Notice of termination of Twitter merger agreement

#61

It seems apparent to this observer that he developed cold feet pretty fast after an impetuous decision, and has been looking for any reason to back out of it since then. The spam accounts angle seems like a convenient scapegoat, rather than a real surprise to him. He's clearly eccentric in his approach to decision making: I don't think any Harvard Business School course will teach "the Musk Principles". But it's uncl…

My guess is he's hit that obscene level of wealth and realizes he is now beyond the controls of the system, and can therefore game it to his advantage. When you can afford the best legal team money can buy and payoff the rest of the gatekeepers, then the game is simply to transfer wealth into your own pocket in bigger chunks.

Honestly, so what if he's out $60 bn. I don't think this would affect his lifestyle in any way whatsoever. But it would affect his high score. I'm guessing at one point he realized the former but later realized the latter and cared more about that. Though he's still got a 88bn lead on second place so I'm not sure why he cares.

Re: Notice of termination of Twitter merger agreement

#63

Is he an idiot who realized he was in too deep / paid too much? Or was he trying to find a way to discredit their user numbers and wanted big headlines?

When Musk made the offer 1. TSLA was trading at ~$1,000 share 2. He offered $54/share Now? 1. TSLA is trading at $750/share (so if Elon musk was 100% in TSLA, he lost 25% of his wealth). 2. Twitter's comprable, Facebook, fell roughly 33% on revised revenue projections and slowing growth. TWTR roughly tracks Facebook, except for last quarter where the stock hasn't moved due to Musk's offer. So Musk became poorer, and…

Do you really believe that the "if" in 1) is true? Really? Enough to make that comment?

Re: Notice of termination of Twitter merger agreement

#64
post #57

It seems apparent to this observer that he developed cold feet pretty fast after an impetuous decision, and has been looking for any reason to back out of it since then. The spam accounts angle seems like a convenient scapegoat, rather than a real surprise to him. He's clearly eccentric in his approach to decision making: I don't think any Harvard Business School course will teach "the Musk Principles". But it's uncl…

I suspect the initial decision was something like "hey I could actually just buy Twitter, that would be funny". It's less clear to me why he almost immediately started trying to back out. It's probably a waste of a significant chunk of money, but is that all?

>> It's less clear to me why he almost immediately started trying to back out.

That's what you do when you sober up and realize what a mess you've made.

Re: Notice of termination of Twitter merger agreement

#65

It seems apparent to this observer that he developed cold feet pretty fast after an impetuous decision, and has been looking for any reason to back out of it since then. The spam accounts angle seems like a convenient scapegoat, rather than a real surprise to him. He's clearly eccentric in his approach to decision making: I don't think any Harvard Business School course will teach "the Musk Principles". But it's uncl…

He made risky bets his entire life and was mostly lucky up to this point.

Most folks who subscribe to the "Musk Principles" aren't nearly as lucky and go bust much earlier.

Re: Notice of termination of Twitter merger agreement

#68

Elon waived his right to due diligence when he first made the offer to buy Twitter, so backing out of the deal by arguing a lack of due diligence is very funny.

Matt Levine has a take down of the supposed bot problem. Basically Elon not only waved due diligence, he signed a binding agreement to buy Twitter, and the bot talk is irrelevant. Even if there’s a problem, Musk should have addressed it before signing an agreement to buy the company. https://twitter.com/matt_levine/status/1545151445057536001?s...

Can twitter agree to release him from the agreement? For a fee? I know he has a $1B penalty but I didn't think that covered this current situation. Perhaps Twitter would be willing to forget the whole thing for $1.5B

Re: Notice of termination of Twitter merger agreement

#70
post #29

It seems apparent to this observer that he developed cold feet pretty fast after an impetuous decision, and has been looking for any reason to back out of it since then. The spam accounts angle seems like a convenient scapegoat, rather than a real surprise to him. He's clearly eccentric in his approach to decision making: I don't think any Harvard Business School course will teach "the Musk Principles". But it's uncl…

This assumes he was serious about it at some point, instead of just cover to sell more Tesla shares and free marketing for himself.

Gosh, I hope he was serious at the point he signed a contract with a $1B penalty, or else he’s the world’s worst businessman.
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