4 ms·

Everything about this deal strikes me as Elon trying to buy his way out of the fact he illegally acquired stock in a bid for a board seat. At the time, I'm sure

by madrox 4y ago

Everything about this deal strikes me as Elon trying to buy his way out of the fact he illegally acquired stock in a bid for a board seat. At the time, I'm sure he thought it was a clever way out of an immediate problem, and he certainly moved the conversation away from his stock buying shenanigans. I just don't know how he didn't see how the outcome would be...owning Twitter. So many people have gotten very close to buying Twitter...even Disney. The surface appeal is high but once you think about it for more than ten minutes it's clearly a problematic platform with few solutions that don't drastically lower its value. If Elon ends up not closing this deal with Twitter, I suspect that Twitter will go the way of Tumblr...eventually getting bought by a second tier tech company before being mismanaged into irrelevance.

dqpb 4y ago
> illegally acquired stock Illegal how?
- Forlien 4y ago
  Not the OP, but when an investor acquires more than 5% of a stock, they have a limited time to disclose it. Elon disclosed his Twitter stock acquisition too late (20 days after instead of 10) and using the wrong form (Schedule 13G instead of Schedule 13D), painting him as a passive investor rather than an activist. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-04-06/elon-musk-is-active-now https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-04-06/elon-m... talks about it.
  - swyx 4y ago
    well, sure he played fast and loose on the forms but then there would be a lot of "illegal" tax filers and thats not the commonly understood meaning of "illegal".
  - 0xy 4y ago
    Isn't it pure speculation on your part that he had non-passive intentions at the time he acquired the shares? The barrier to prove intent is high, and speculation doesn't cut it. It's valid to buy as a passive investor and then turn into an activist or an interested party, even a short time later.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - ImPostingOnHN 4y ago
      given that elon is not the type of person who can avoid loudly announcing his intentions, he did not, and had previously frequently announced ideas to change Twitter, on Twitter itself I imagine his lawyers hate him almost as much as a certain other famous narcissist's lawyers hate that person
nequo 4y ago
Good analysis. > If Elon ends up not closing this deal with Twitter, I suspect that Twitter will go the way of Tumblr...eventually getting bought by a second tier tech company before being mismanaged into irrelevance. Has Musk demonstrated that he has a viable business plan for Twitter that would help it avoid mismanagement into irrelevance?
- roflyear 4y ago
  Who cares? He's taking the company private.
evilotto 4y ago
Did Elon ever really intend to buy Twitter in the first place, or was he just looking for a way to get inside information about the company without paying for it like twitter's "largest enterprise customers" do? Then he could dig up a reason to abandon the deal, and back out without losing anything, and having gained much valuable information that could be used against Twitter in some other spat.

by madrox 4y ago

dqpb 4y ago

> illegally acquired stock Illegal how?

Forlien 4y ago
Not the OP, but when an investor acquires more than 5% of a stock, they have a limited time to disclose it. Elon disclosed his Twitter stock acquisition too late (20 days after instead of 10) and using the wrong form (Schedule 13G instead of Schedule 13D), painting him as a passive investor rather than an activist. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-04-06/elon-musk-is-active-now https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-04-06/elon-m... talks about it.
- swyx 4y ago
  well, sure he played fast and loose on the forms but then there would be a lot of "illegal" tax filers and thats not the commonly understood meaning of "illegal".
- 0xy 4y ago
  Isn't it pure speculation on your part that he had non-passive intentions at the time he acquired the shares? The barrier to prove intent is high, and speculation doesn't cut it. It's valid to buy as a passive investor and then turn into an activist or an interested party, even a short time later.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - ImPostingOnHN 4y ago
    given that elon is not the type of person who can avoid loudly announcing his intentions, he did not, and had previously frequently announced ideas to change Twitter, on Twitter itself I imagine his lawyers hate him almost as much as a certain other famous narcissist's lawyers hate that person

nequo 4y ago

Good analysis. > If Elon ends up not closing this deal with Twitter, I suspect that Twitter will go the way of Tumblr...eventually getting bought by a second tier tech company before being mismanaged into irrelevance. Has Musk demonstrated that he has a viable business plan for Twitter that would help it avoid mismanagement into irrelevance?

roflyear 4y ago
Who cares? He's taking the company private.

evilotto 4y ago

Did Elon ever really intend to buy Twitter in the first place, or was he just looking for a way to get inside information about the company without paying for it like twitter's "largest enterprise customers" do? Then he could dig up a reason to abandon the deal, and back out without losing anything, and having gained much valuable information that could be used against Twitter in some other spat.