Merged: Musk buys Twitter!/ Elon Musk puts Twitter deal on hold....

[sir drinks-a-lot]

Originally Posted by SuburbanTurkey

Did he? I don't see his account, or the old infowars account.

Jones wouldn't be the only banned or suspended right wing troll making such comments. I wonder how exactly they think this occurred, especially considering that Elon Musk does not actually have any control over Twitter at the moment. Even if you take his buy offer seriously, it'll be some time yet before it could be finalized.

I don't know what I saw, maybe it was a fake account. iirc, the account name was Alex Jones and it even had a photo. Didn't look for a blue check mark.

So yeah, almost certainly fake (or something in my imagination). I just saw it on my twitter feed and thought "wow" and then commented here. If he was really back on Twitter, I'm sure we'd be hearing about it from other sources by now.

#fakenews

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Isn't Mr Musk shooting a bit low with just wanting Twitter? Should he not be buying the presidency of the United States? Maybe by crowdfunding if his trillions are not enough.

Just think of the possibilities.

[Checkmite]

Originally Posted by Gord_in_Toronto

Isn't Mr Musk shooting a bit low with just wanting Twitter? Should he not be buying the presidency of the United States? Maybe by crowdfunding if his trillions are not enough.

Because Musk has a personal grudge against Twitter that he seeks to make right by buying it, taking it private, and reinstating all the accounts that were banned for stalking, harassment, death threats, and advocating violence because that'll teach all those mean liberal users for saying mean things about Elon Musk. At the end of the day, that's the motivation.

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Originally Posted by Checkmite

Because Musk has a personal grudge against Twitter that he seeks to make right by buying it, taking it private, and reinstating all the accounts that were banned for stalking, harassment, death threats, and advocating violence because that'll teach all those mean liberal users for saying mean things about Elon Musk. At the end of the day, that's the motivation.

He could do that if he was King of the World. I said to think big.

[arthwollipot]

Originally Posted by dudalb

Problem is some people who are big suppoters of Space Travel will ignore all the stupid and crappy things Musk has done, and put him on a pedestal and worship him just for Space X. Sort of like one issue voters.

It's possible to acknowledge that terrible people can achieve great things. SpaceX is more than just Musk. It's the result of a lot of people working very, very hard, and that can be celebrated.

[angrysoba]

Musk is blatantly trying to scupper the Twitter deal now.

He is making it all about how many troll accounts there are. Twitter say 5% and Musk says 20%.

He's now saying his bid was based on information that he says Twitter are being dishonest about.

Is anyone going to fall for this crap?

[TurkeysGhost]

Is there any money at stake if Elon pulls out at this point? Some fee or deposit that gets lost in this transparent attempt to find a pretext to back out of the deal?

[Fast Eddie B]

Originally Posted by SuburbanTurkey

Is there any money at stake if Elon pulls out at this point? Some fee or deposit that gets lost in this transparent attempt to find a pretext to back out of the deal?

The Opening Arguments podcast does a really deep dive into the topic on Episode 595.

https://openargs.com/oa595-sharehold...ize-musk-deal/

Be advised you have to fast forward through a lengthy abortion rights discussion to get to the part on Musk.

[angrysoba]

Originally Posted by SuburbanTurkey

Is there any money at stake if Elon pulls out at this point? Some fee or deposit that gets lost in this transparent attempt to find a pretext to back out of the deal?

I think it is a billion dollars. But I doubt things happen that simply. "Oh you broke your agreement." "Okay, here's a billion dollars".

Probably more likely Elon Musk will claim to have been deceived and he will get his lawyers to bog Twitter down in some interminable lawsuit.

[TurkeysGhost]

Originally Posted by angrysoba

I think it is a billion dollars. But I doubt things happen that simply. "Oh you broke your agreement." "Okay, here's a billion dollars".

Probably more likely Elon Musk will claim to have been deceived and he will get his lawyers to bog Twitter down in some interminable lawsuit.

Twitter doesn't seem like the kind of broke nobody that can be easily intimidated by the threat of litigation. Not to say that they will be champing at the bit to get into a bunch of expensive, tedious litigation, but I don't think they'll be easily spooked.

[angrysoba]

Originally Posted by SuburbanTurkey

Twitter doesn't seem like the kind of broke nobody that can be easily intimidated by the threat of litigation. Not to say that they will be champing at the bit to get into a bunch of expensive, tedious litigation, but I don't think they'll be easily spooked.

It would actually be pretty funny if they did get sued by Musk, then kicked him and his lawyers off Twitter.

[ponderingturtle]

Originally Posted by angrysoba

Musk is blatantly trying to scupper the Twitter deal now.

He is making it all about how many troll accounts there are. Twitter say 5% and Musk says 20%.

He's now saying his bid was based on information that he says Twitter are being dishonest about.

Is anyone going to fall for this crap?

We will see when all the lawsuits are finished over if Musk or Twitter has to pay the $1billion penalty for sinking the deal.

And why is that an issue as he seemed to want to throw it open to more troll accounts why would the current rate be a problem?

[ponderingturtle]

Originally Posted by angrysoba

I think it is a billion dollars. But I doubt things happen that simply. "Oh you broke your agreement." "Okay, here's a billion dollars".

Probably more likely Elon Musk will claim to have been deceived and he will get his lawyers to bog Twitter down in some interminable lawsuit.

Well it could be that simple, but both paying a hundred million in lawyers fees is preferable to a billion in penalties so expect many years of this being dragged out. I mean think of the rate of return if you drag it out for 10 years at the cost of 100 million, even if you have to pay the billion at the end that seems like a good investment. Could I borrow money pay 1% a year for 10 years then have to give the same amount back?

[Segnosaur]

Originally Posted by ponderingturtle

Quote:

Musk is blatantly trying to scupper the Twitter deal now.
He is making it all about how many troll accounts there are. Twitter say 5% and Musk says 20%.
He's now saying his bid was based on information that he says Twitter are being dishonest about.

We will see when all the lawsuits are finished over if Musk or Twitter has to pay the $1billion penalty for sinking the deal.

And why is that an issue as he seemed to want to throw it open to more troll accounts why would the current rate be a problem?

I think there might be different definitions of "troll accounts" at play here.

There are 'bot accounts' (the type that Putin pays for) which are trollish... Must has actually stated that he wants to get rid of these.

On the other hand, there are human-owned/controlled accounts (like that of Stubby McBonespurs) that are also trollish... these are the ones that Musk wants to re-instate, but i don't know if those 20% include those human scumbag accounts or the bot accounts.

[angrysoba]

Come on, now…

ETA: have I been fooled by a fake screen shot? The second one looks weird as though photoshopped on badly given the strangely cropped blue check mark.

[angrysoba]

Oh, it is real…

He’s also sharing some Project Veritas video about Twitter’s left-wing policies where some guy is claiming Twitter deliberately target right-wingers. Project veritas!?

[Venom]

For a "genius entrepreneur" Elon Musk looks dumb as a box of rocks sometimes.

[Checkmite]

Musk really is the last person who ought to be ringing the SEC's doorbell. Right now more than ever.

[TurkeysGhost]

Bloomberg exploring that Musk's reversal may simply be buyer's remorse considering the debt burden of his highly leveraged buyout offer:

Quote:

Elon Musk may be directing his buyer’s remorse at Twitter Inc.’s bot problem. But underpinning the deal is a $13 billion debt bill that’s looking like a bigger burden by the day.

The package, drummed up in a rush and signed by banks before the end of the billionaire’s beloved April 20 weed holiday, will leave the social media platform with an annual interest expense approaching $1 billion, giving the company an alarmingly small margin for error.

To sober-minded credit analysts, second thoughts about the deal are to be expected.

The purchase will be funded with a leveraged loan and high-yield bonds. CreditSights estimates this will dramatically increase Twitter’s annual interest expense to around $900 million, while Bloomberg Intelligence sees $750 million to $1 billion.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...er-debt-burden

Musk may have ****-posted out a check that he can't back.

[angrysoba]

Here's a question...

Will Elon Musk get rid of all those Terms of Service that suppress the freedom of speech of the cultural warriors who are just trying to save the world from *checks notes* C...R...T people, and *checks notes again*... Groomers, and *checks notes again and rubs eyes* "authoritarian tolerance" (!) who use Twitter to make perfectly cromulent cultural insults observations as the Lord intended, while also striking down those bad people who make some kind of insulting posts to the saviours of Western civilization?

[TurkeysGhost]

My guess is that he's getting out in front of upcoming bad news for him. Eventually the investigation at the racism factory is going to conclude in an extremely negative way for Tesla, and this Twitter debacle seems to be blowing up spectacularly.

I suspect he's setting up the narrative now so he can blame his personal failures as political retaliation from the "woke" machine.

[TurkeysGhost]

Twitter is holding firm, not lowering price Musk agreed to.

Quote:

Twitter executives say they aren’t playing Elon Musk’s games.

At a company town hall on Thursday, the execs told employees they will not renegotiate the price of his $44 billion takeover agreement—a source familiar with the matter confirmed to The Daily Beast—even as Musk tries to stir up doubt about the number of fake accounts on the platform.

Twitter’s share price is currently hovering around $38 per share, well below the $54.20 per share Musk committed to last month.

The terms of the buyout agreement will make it hard for him to weasel out of the deal. It includes a $1 billion breakup fee, and the company could sue to try to force Musk to follow through on the transaction.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/twitte...el-out-of-deal

It would be pretty funny if Musk is ruined because he got duped into overextending himself by right wing rage bait.

[xjx388]

53 posts have been moved to the general Elon Musk thread. This thread is specifically about the Twitter deal. Please make sure you are posting in the correct thread. Thanks.

Responding to this modbox in thread will be off topic Posted By:xjx388

[I Am The Scum]

Well it's putting the deal on hold day... again.

[Captain_Swoop]

Elon Musk threatens to walk away from Twitter deal accusing the social media company of "thwarting" his requests to learn more about its user base.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61709782

[TurkeysGhost]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Elon Musk threatens to walk away from Twitter deal accusing the social media company of "thwarting" his requests to learn more about its user base.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61709782

I wish someone would threaten to give me a billion dollars.

My guess is that this is some attempt to extract a lower price out of Twitter. I'm not seeing how there's any way for Musk to walk away from this deal without inflicting huge costs on himself, but Twitter might be willing to haggle on price rather than waste a bunch of time and money on a tedious, if victorious, lawsuit.

If Musk really is thinking he can just walk away easily, he's dumber than I had thought.

[Babbylonian]

Originally Posted by SuburbanTurkey

I wish someone would threaten to give me a billion dollars.

My guess is that this is some attempt to extract a lower price out of Twitter. I'm not seeing how there's any way for Musk to walk away from this deal without inflicting huge costs on himself, but Twitter might be willing to haggle on price rather than waste a bunch of time and money on a tedious, if victorious, lawsuit.

If Musk really is thinking he can just walk away easily, he's dumber than I had thought.

He doesn't care about the billion dollars. He'd make that up with Tesla value rebounding once this ill-advised adventure is over.

What the self-important, evil prick does care about is making people believe he had no choice but to quit because Twitter - an entity currently happy to be purchased - did him dirty.

[angrysoba]

Huh? Texas Attorney General is “investigating” how many bots are on Twitter?

Why would they be doing this on behalf of the world’s richest man?

https://twitter.com/txag/status/1533...713582593?s=21

[Babbylonian]

Originally Posted by angrysoba

Huh? Texas Attorney General is “investigating” how many bots are on Twitter?

Why would they be doing this on behalf of the world’s richest man?

https://twitter.com/txag/status/1533...713582593?s=21

It's a good thing there are no other pressing issues for the top law enforcement officer in Texas. The man clearly knows how to prioritize.

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Originally Posted by Babbylonian

It's a good thing there are no other pressing issues for the top law enforcement officer in Texas. The man clearly knows how to prioritize.

I'd love to see the text of the law he thinks they are violating. Presumably some sort of consumer protection act?

[tyr_13]

Originally Posted by SuburbanTurkey

I wish someone would threaten to give me a billion dollars.

My guess is that this is some attempt to extract a lower price out of Twitter. I'm not seeing how there's any way for Musk to walk away from this deal without inflicting huge costs on himself, but Twitter might be willing to haggle on price rather than waste a bunch of time and money on a tedious, if victorious, lawsuit.

If Musk really is thinking he can just walk away easily, he's dumber than I had thought.

Except he can't just pay a billion and walk away. The billion is if he walks away with cause. The number of bots on Twitter wouldn't have even been cause if he had not explicitly waved due diligence, which he did. Twitter has been very open for years on how they measure these things, so even if he had not taken the 'buy it now' option, it isn't manipulative of Twitter to measure the way they have almost all along.

Trying to walk away without cause means Twitter can sue for specific performance; that performance being paying what he promised. It has happened before, and chances are good he can't even negotiate the price down much if at all.

He's let his theater lead him.

[Babbylonian]

Originally Posted by tyr_13

Except he can't just pay a billion and walk away. The billion is if he walks away with cause. The number of bots on Twitter wouldn't have even been cause if he had not explicitly waved due diligence, which he did. Twitter has been very open for years on how they measure these things, so even if he had not taken the 'buy it now' option, it isn't manipulative of Twitter to measure the way they have almost all along.

Trying to walk away without cause means Twitter can sue for specific performance; that performance being paying what he promised. It has happened before, and chances are good he can't even negotiate the price down much if at all.

He's let his theater lead him.

Indeed. Getting out while paying only a billion is the dream for him. Of course, now that he's enlisted the Texas AG in his army it's possible that could generate some "good enough for court" smoke to allow him an escape.

[Puppycow]

Originally Posted by Gord_in_Toronto

I'd love to see the text of the law he thinks they are violating. Presumably some sort of consumer protection act?

If anything it would be ripping off investors.

At the end of the day, those are usually the only laws that tend to get invoked in such situations.

It was the same with Theranos. Not being honest to people investing money in the company. Holmes was also charged with defrauding patients but those charges didn't result in a guilty verdict. The charges related to defrauding investors did.

The argument would go that they duped Musk (and/or other investors) into paying more for the stock than it is really worth, by misrepresenting facts about their user base.

[The Great Zaganza]

Musk will have his lawyers haggle over the billions until both he and Twitter are ancient history.

[TurkeysGhost]

Originally Posted by tyr_13

Except he can't just pay a billion and walk away. The billion is if he walks away with cause. The number of bots on Twitter wouldn't have even been cause if he had not explicitly waved due diligence, which he did. Twitter has been very open for years on how they measure these things, so even if he had not taken the 'buy it now' option, it isn't manipulative of Twitter to measure the way they have almost all along.

Trying to walk away without cause means Twitter can sue for specific performance; that performance being paying what he promised. It has happened before, and chances are good he can't even negotiate the price down much if at all.

He's let his theater lead him.

I'm guessing he's relying on the one big caveat of contract law. If you enough lawyers and money, contracts aren't real.

Musk can probably drag this thing out for a long, long time to make it maximally expensive, just from litigation, for Twitter. At some point the practical thing for Twitter will be to come to some sort of settlement.

This is perhaps Musk's most annoying trait, how publicly he flaunts that laws aren't real for rich people. Whether that's making and breaking contracts at a whim or spitting in the face of the SEC with his many stock/crypto manipulation schemes, over and over he gloats that following the law is merely a matter of convenience if you have enough money.

[Ziggurat]

Originally Posted by angrysoba

Huh? Texas Attorney General is “investigating” how many bots are on Twitter?

Why would they be doing this on behalf of the world’s richest man?

https://twitter.com/txag/status/1533...713582593?s=21

Why do you think this is just about Musk? Both shareholders and advertisers have a legitimate stake in knowing how many bots are on Twitter, and knowing if Twitter is being honest about their representation of such.

[TurkeysGhost]

Originally Posted by Ziggurat

Why do you think this is just about Musk? Both shareholders and advertisers have a legitimate stake in knowing how many bots are on Twitter, and knowing if Twitter is being honest about their representation of such.

It's pretty obviously prompted by Musk's grandstanding. Perhaps it's just a wild coincidence.

[ponderingturtle]

Originally Posted by Babbylonian

It's a good thing there are no other pressing issues for the top law enforcement officer in Texas. The man clearly knows how to prioritize.

Anything to do instead of pursuing the indictment against the Texas AG. He has been under indictment for many years, but for some reason the Texas AG is really going slowly with the case.

[TurkeysGhost]

Originally Posted by ponderingturtle

Anything to do instead of pursuing the indictment against the Texas AG. He has been under indictment for many years, but for some reason the Texas AG is really going slowly with the case.

It's not like there was some recent scandalous, mass loss of life disaster in Texas in which a thorough investigation would be in the public's best interest...

[ponderingturtle]

Originally Posted by tyr_13

Except he can't just pay a billion and walk away. The billion is if he walks away with cause. The number of bots on Twitter wouldn't have even been cause if he had not explicitly waved due diligence, which he did. Twitter has been very open for years on how they measure these things, so even if he had not taken the 'buy it now' option, it isn't manipulative of Twitter to measure the way they have almost all along.

Trying to walk away without cause means Twitter can sue for specific performance; that performance being paying what he promised. It has happened before, and chances are good he can't even negotiate the price down much if at all.

He's let his theater lead him.

This is at odds with what has been explained on Opening Arguments. The billion dollars is the penalty for breaking the contract, which either side can get out of if they show the other was acting in bad faith. So twitter not providing accurate information during the negotiation phase would be an arguement to get out of paying the billion.

I would not think there is any reasonable way he can negotiate a different price outside of something like breaking the deal and paying the billion and starting over if Twitter is willing. Fighting over the billion seems unlikely to be doable if you are trying to negotiate a new deal.