Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter
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Solid.
Actually, I think that might be 1950's hipster talk.
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@jon-nyc said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:
Pass the popcorn, George.
I ate the popcorn a while ago.
Now, it's gone.
Tesla (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said on Friday he was terminating his $44 billion deal for Twitter Inc (TWTR.N), citing material breach of multiple provisions of the agreement.
Shares of Twitter fell 6% in extended trading.
The announcement brings to an end a will-he-won’t-he saga after the world’s richest person clinched a deal for Twitter in April but then put the buyout on hold until the social media company proved that spam bots accounted for less than 5% of its total users.
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To be sure he snuck out of the deal because the market tanked in the months following his bid and he was overpaying. He could still come back in a few weeks or months with a lower bid.
It’s always something.
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@jon-nyc said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:
To be sure he snuck out of the deal because the market tanked in the months following his bid and he was overpaying. He could still come back in a few weeks or months with a lower bid.
Yep. Overpaying, using a significantly reduced personal fortune.
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They have a colorable argument.
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It also demonstrates how much this is really about price.
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@jon-nyc said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:
They have a colorable argument.
I wondered about that. His requirement that they disclose the number of "bot" or spam accounts occurred after his agreement to buy.
That might invalidate his claim.
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@Horace said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:
On what planet is the ability for Musk to back out of this contract before closing, not unambiguously written into the contract?
YARLY.
One would think that the world's richest man would be able to hire the world's best lawyers.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@Horace said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:
On what planet is the ability for Musk to back out of this contract before closing, not unambiguously written into the contract? Well, this planet, but how?
In the world where every banker and securities lawyer knows that option premiums have value north of zero so don’t write free ones into contracts. In other words, this world.
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@George-K said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:
@Horace said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:
On what planet is the ability for Musk to back out of this contract before closing, not unambiguously written into the contract?
YARLY.
One would think that the world's richest man would be able to hire the world's best lawyers.
But it’s not like the worlds best securities lawyers have been hibernating for decades waiting for Musk to hire them. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, et al work with the top firms on many simultaneous deals all the time.
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@jon-nyc said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:
@Horace said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:
On what planet is the ability for Musk to back out of this contract before closing, not unambiguously written into the contract? Well, this planet, but how?
In the world where every banker and securities lawyer knows that option premiums have value north of zero so don’t write free ones into contracts. In other words, this world.
I'm not sure what point you're addressing, (I don't think I ever made a claim about free options,) but I meant that there should presumably not be an ambiguous legal case around whether Musk can back out of this contract under these circumstances. Whatever the terms of that back out may be. I would have assumed that the terms of a party declining to close the deal, should be part of whatever contract had originally been signed.
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@jon-nyc said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:
They have a colorable argument.
If they did, then there would be absolutely no need for all of the remaining documentation and procedures. Until the money and “title” changes hands, nothing is final. He COULD be held responsible for fees and penalties depending on the paperwork that they’ve already signed, but that’s the extent.
Me/rry/Christmas
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@LuFins-Dad said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:
@jon-nyc said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:
They have a colorable argument.
If they did, then there would be absolutely no need for all of the remaining documentation and procedures. Until the money and “title” changes hands, nothing is final. He COULD be held responsible for fees and penalties depending on the paperwork that they’ve already signed, but that’s the extent.
Right the paperwork they’ve already signed and the terms of Musk backing out should be unambiguous. That’s what I found surprising.
But I suppose when sufficient money is at stake, everything can be made to seem legally ambiguous.
Education is extremely important.
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@Horace said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:
@LuFins-Dad said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:
@jon-nyc said in Elon Musk buys a big chunk of Twitter:
They have a colorable argument.
If they did, then there would be absolutely no need for all of the remaining documentation and procedures. Until the money and “title” changes hands, nothing is final. He COULD be held responsible for fees and penalties depending on the paperwork that they’ve already signed, but that’s the extent.
Right the paperwork they’ve already signed and the terms of Musk backing out should be unambiguous. That’s what I found surprising.
But I suppose when sufficient money is at stake, everything can be made to seem legally ambiguous.
I could see the FTC possibly having an issue as well, but nothing to the extent that the Twitboard is claiming.
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