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> Late last Thursday, following many months of hesitations, attempted reneging, and last-ditch negotiations, Elon Musk closed a forty-four-billion-dollar deal o

by dmix 4y ago

> Late last Thursday, following many months of hesitations, attempted reneging, and last-ditch negotiations, Elon Musk closed a forty-four-billion-dollar deal on his acquisition of Twitter. I know this is journalism but any analysis that doesn't assume Elon was merely gambling ~$10+ million on lawyer fees in hopes of saving $100-500 million on the deal he already commited to buying is lying to themselves. He obviously always wanted Twitter. He was just using the legal avenues every person is provided (especially wealthy people) to save a few bucks in the process. And he lost badly. Would any high paid lawyer tell Elon they should simply accept the deal a week after the price of the stocks tanks? Should you then accept the deal to save face? (Not to rain on the parade of weeks of breathless reporting that pretended otherwise)

Eji1700 4y ago
Here's an idea, don't waive due diligence and sign up to buy something at a price that was already aggressive, and then complain about the exact issues which you'll later hope to try and prove a MAC. Any high paid lawyer would have said "don't do ANY of that" to the entire deal. Don't overpay from the start so you can have a meme price. Don't waive due diligence. Don't sabotage your own potential down the line arguments by throwing them around publicly. There were a thousand better ways to handle this if that was the goal. Twitter sued for specific performance and he got screwed because he played fast and loose with the rules and they suddenly applied to him.
- dmix 4y ago
  I never said his business accumen was correct before the fact? I was merely talking about the rational choice after. What exactly was your legal strategy after the fact that would have worked to reduce the price (vs lawyer fees)? Not buying it at all? Elon just saying yes to the stock price post-crash? Ive read your reply twice and I can't see the more rational alternative? Besides one that the lawyers or media should have felt is the right choice... Apparently having known the price would decline. When they were as high as anyone about the market at the time. If you knew the economy/stock market was going to decline you wouldn't be bothering talking about twitter pre-purchase. And Elon wouldnt give a shit what lawyers think about Twitter and instead be focusing on Tesla and SpaceX. You know... The things that actually made him rich.

by dmix 4y ago

Eji1700 4y ago

Here's an idea, don't waive due diligence and sign up to buy something at a price that was already aggressive, and then complain about the exact issues which you'll later hope to try and prove a MAC. Any high paid lawyer would have said "don't do ANY of that" to the entire deal. Don't overpay from the start so you can have a meme price. Don't waive due diligence. Don't sabotage your own potential down the line arguments by throwing them around publicly. There were a thousand better ways to handle this if that was the goal. Twitter sued for specific performance and he got screwed because he played fast and loose with the rules and they suddenly applied to him.

dmix 4y ago
I never said his business accumen was correct before the fact? I was merely talking about the rational choice after. What exactly was your legal strategy after the fact that would have worked to reduce the price (vs lawyer fees)? Not buying it at all? Elon just saying yes to the stock price post-crash? Ive read your reply twice and I can't see the more rational alternative? Besides one that the lawyers or media should have felt is the right choice... Apparently having known the price would decline. When they were as high as anyone about the market at the time. If you knew the economy/stock market was going to decline you wouldn't be bothering talking about twitter pre-purchase. And Elon wouldnt give a shit what lawyers think about Twitter and instead be focusing on Tesla and SpaceX. You know... The things that actually made him rich.