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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

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=20&t=NfM9qDT3Y0s9vN_nS-zGvQ https://twitter.com/matt_levine/status/1545151445057536001?s...

wollsmoth 4y ago
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
- TheCoelacanth 4y ago
  Yes, but they could potentially get sued by their own shareholders if they let him off too easily.
  - pasttense01 4y ago
    And note Musk did a great deal of damage to the company. On hearing that he wanted to change the character of the company; that he was going to lay off a huge number of people; that he was going to make existing employees work much harder... many of the best and brightest left.
    - kbelder 4y ago
      >many of the best and brightest left. Well... a number of employees left.
collegeburner 4y ago
Tbh i haven't read the agreement and i'm not going to but representations and warranties is generally grounds to terminate.
- ImPostingOnHN 4y ago
  afaik there are no material representations or warranties made by twitter which elon has proven false
sureglymop 4y ago
Read this a few weeks ago when the newsletter arrived. Money Stuff by Matt Levine is very worth subscribing to!
dragonwriter 4y ago
The letter doesn't cite the bot problem directly, but instead Twitter allegedly failing to live up to it's obligation to give Musk info, which he wanted regarding the bot problem. (And a bunch of other alleged breaches.)
inerte 4y ago
Reading Matt I realized there's another layer, which is Musk has complained about the bot problem for a while - heck, one could argue that he bought Twitter not only fully knowing (according to him) it has a bot problem, but he intended to _fix_ the problem.
tick_tock_tick 4y ago
The agreement have a massive out; yes it doesn't matter what Elon thinks about the bots but if his financier think bots are an issue he gets an out since Twitter for some reason let a financing clause in.
- CogitoCogito 4y ago
  You mean Musk agreed to buy Twitter contingent on financing and now is trying to torpedo his own financing after he himself agreed to the sale? There's a lot of talk of fraud in the comments here, but to me _that_ sounds like fraud on Musk's part. In any case, I guess we'll have to see if Musk's financing really gets pulled and if that really means Musk is off the hook.
  - tick_tock_tick 4y ago
    He doesn't have to torpedo anything just make enough noise that they get cold feet.
    - CogitoCogito 4y ago
      > He doesn't have to torpedo anything just make enough noise that they get cold feet. That falls under my personal definition of "torpedo".

wollsmoth 4y ago

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

TheCoelacanth 4y ago
Yes, but they could potentially get sued by their own shareholders if they let him off too easily.
- pasttense01 4y ago
  And note Musk did a great deal of damage to the company. On hearing that he wanted to change the character of the company; that he was going to lay off a huge number of people; that he was going to make existing employees work much harder... many of the best and brightest left.
  - kbelder 4y ago
    >many of the best and brightest left. Well... a number of employees left.

collegeburner 4y ago

Tbh i haven't read the agreement and i'm not going to but representations and warranties is generally grounds to terminate.

ImPostingOnHN 4y ago
afaik there are no material representations or warranties made by twitter which elon has proven false

sureglymop 4y ago

Read this a few weeks ago when the newsletter arrived. Money Stuff by Matt Levine is very worth subscribing to!

dragonwriter 4y ago

The letter doesn't cite the bot problem directly, but instead Twitter allegedly failing to live up to it's obligation to give Musk info, which he wanted regarding the bot problem. (And a bunch of other alleged breaches.)

inerte 4y ago

Reading Matt I realized there's another layer, which is Musk has complained about the bot problem for a while - heck, one could argue that he bought Twitter not only fully knowing (according to him) it has a bot problem, but he intended to _fix_ the problem.

tick_tock_tick 4y ago

The agreement have a massive out; yes it doesn't matter what Elon thinks about the bots but if his financier think bots are an issue he gets an out since Twitter for some reason let a financing clause in.

CogitoCogito 4y ago
You mean Musk agreed to buy Twitter contingent on financing and now is trying to torpedo his own financing after he himself agreed to the sale? There's a lot of talk of fraud in the comments here, but to me _that_ sounds like fraud on Musk's part. In any case, I guess we'll have to see if Musk's financing really gets pulled and if that really means Musk is off the hook.
- tick_tock_tick 4y ago
  He doesn't have to torpedo anything just make enough noise that they get cold feet.
  - CogitoCogito 4y ago
    > He doesn't have to torpedo anything just make enough noise that they get cold feet. That falls under my personal definition of "torpedo".