4 ms·

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.

shakow 4y ago
> or else he’s the world’s worst businessman. According to this hypothesis, he would still walk out with 7.5B in hard cash instead of 8.5B in Tesla share. I'm not in his boots, but I see how it can be seen as worth it.
- ImPostingOnHN 4y ago
  assuming he can come up with a convincing case that twitter made material lies, otherwise he walks out owning twitter for the cost specified in the contract
atlasunshrugged 4y ago
Unless he thought he could be a big enough pain in the ass that Twitter folks would rather walk away from the deal and let him skate with a few million penalty while he liquidates Tesla stock with little repercussion to the share price (unfortunately for him, the market tanked in the interim and now his deal is an absolutely amazing one for Twitter shareholders so no way they let him walk away, $1B penalty isn't even an option as this was about outside interference)
jiggawatts 4y ago
If you want to move $40B, this is just a two percent transaction fee to avoid losing $200B by spooking the public investors. That’s smart.
- Hamuko 4y ago
  I was under the assumption that he was not financing that $40B with just Tesla stock?
  - chx 4y ago
    He was funding it with loans leveraged against his stock if I understand this correctly.
- shuckles 4y ago
  If that was his intent, it's fraud and has (in theory) criminal penalties.
  - Hamuko 4y ago
    Judging by his dealings with the SEC, I don't feel like he respects the law all that much.
    - jacquesm 4y ago
      I don't think the SEC cares very much what Elon respects or not, if they can nail him they will.
      - camjohnson26 4y ago
        I think they’ve clearly shown that’s not true ever since they tried to take him back to court for clearly not having his tweets pre approved, despite the settlement over the “funding secured” tweet. The man literally tweeted “Tesla stock is too high right now, imo” and nothing happened.
        jacquesm 4y ago
        I see some difference between tweeting stuff and signing binding agreements for purchase and using stock as collateral at a particular valuation.
        lovich 4y ago
        The tweeting came after signing binding agreements. You may disagree that the tweets or buying a business are the same level of seriousness, but the binding part of binding agreement is the rule of law part of society that makes all businesses work. Musk not being reigned in by the SEC, when looked at in a vacuum is probably not the end of the world or the US economy, but it’s not in a vacuum. Everyone watching right now realizes that you can publicly enter into fraudulent business deals that you leave at convenience and there is nothing you can do about it unless you have have better lawyers. That is gonna be super degrading towards the ease of doing business
- micromacrofoot 4y ago
  that's smaller than a Venmo transaction fee (3%)
jacquesm 4y ago
Not necessarily. That all depends on what he gained in return. Unless of course he ends up going to jail for fraud. It took a lot less for Martha Stewart.

shakow 4y ago

> or else he’s the world’s worst businessman. According to this hypothesis, he would still walk out with 7.5B in hard cash instead of 8.5B in Tesla share. I'm not in his boots, but I see how it can be seen as worth it.

ImPostingOnHN 4y ago
assuming he can come up with a convincing case that twitter made material lies, otherwise he walks out owning twitter for the cost specified in the contract

atlasunshrugged 4y ago

Unless he thought he could be a big enough pain in the ass that Twitter folks would rather walk away from the deal and let him skate with a few million penalty while he liquidates Tesla stock with little repercussion to the share price (unfortunately for him, the market tanked in the interim and now his deal is an absolutely amazing one for Twitter shareholders so no way they let him walk away, $1B penalty isn't even an option as this was about outside interference)

jiggawatts 4y ago

If you want to move $40B, this is just a two percent transaction fee to avoid losing $200B by spooking the public investors. That’s smart.

Hamuko 4y ago
I was under the assumption that he was not financing that $40B with just Tesla stock?
- chx 4y ago
  He was funding it with loans leveraged against his stock if I understand this correctly.
shuckles 4y ago
If that was his intent, it's fraud and has (in theory) criminal penalties.
- Hamuko 4y ago
  Judging by his dealings with the SEC, I don't feel like he respects the law all that much.
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    I don't think the SEC cares very much what Elon respects or not, if they can nail him they will.
    - camjohnson26 4y ago
      I think they’ve clearly shown that’s not true ever since they tried to take him back to court for clearly not having his tweets pre approved, despite the settlement over the “funding secured” tweet. The man literally tweeted “Tesla stock is too high right now, imo” and nothing happened.
      - jacquesm 4y ago
        I see some difference between tweeting stuff and signing binding agreements for purchase and using stock as collateral at a particular valuation.
        lovich 4y ago
        The tweeting came after signing binding agreements. You may disagree that the tweets or buying a business are the same level of seriousness, but the binding part of binding agreement is the rule of law part of society that makes all businesses work. Musk not being reigned in by the SEC, when looked at in a vacuum is probably not the end of the world or the US economy, but it’s not in a vacuum. Everyone watching right now realizes that you can publicly enter into fraudulent business deals that you leave at convenience and there is nothing you can do about it unless you have have better lawyers. That is gonna be super degrading towards the ease of doing business
micromacrofoot 4y ago
that's smaller than a Venmo transaction fee (3%)

jacquesm 4y ago

Not necessarily. That all depends on what he gained in return. Unless of course he ends up going to jail for fraud. It took a lot less for Martha Stewart.