A Bird In The Hand
US equities took investors for another wild ride Friday, when Wall Street punctuated a head-spinning week with a rollicking, tech-led rally.
Elon Musk made himself the center of attention, as he's wont to do.
Crypto headlines and inflation hand-wringing gave way to breathless speculation about the future of Musk's cartoonish Twitter deal, which he "temporarily" placed on hold, ostensibly to determine whether the platform's spam bot epidemic is worse than the company's simulations suggest.
Rea
Musk is not so much a god as a very rich dude who has gotten too big for his britches. The universe has a way of handling people who fit that description. The ancient Greeks had a word for it. I think we’re seeing Peak Musk right here.
People have been calling “peak Musk” since Musk entered our collective consciousness. Most of us will “peak” before “peak Musk,” I’m afraid.
Hybris and Nemesis
Musk will stomp on the effects pedal and play a loud solo any time he pleases, he has assured himself that his utterings are like medicinal balm for the lazy and the woke, incense for his pure believers. He will query the universe and renegotiate the terms if it pleases him under the sun.
Just read the definition (on my Mac’s dictionary) of anarchy. “n practical terms, anarchy can refer to the curtailment or abolition of traditional forms of government and institutions.” I had previously assumed anarchists came from the poor and down trodden, but Musk sounds like a true believer with a lot of money and therefore power to push this agenda
H_Man, I have been following Matt Levine for about a year and he is always a good read.
Yeah, Matt’s brilliant. Bess is too. The two of them at Dealbreaker were legendary.
Wouldn’t they have to pursue compensatory damages if we’re talking contractual obligations or was it settled in the $1 billion that I’m not sure the non breaching party gets?
It seems like with all the walk outs and quitting that came directly after the proposal along with libel of at least the bot numbers, some considerable compensation would be due, and therefore be necessary to pursue.
$1BN is the contractual penalty for failing to complete the purchase. It is a low number, which was one clue for the TWTR shorts. TWTR can also seek injunctive relief, to compel Musk to complete the purchase. He has enough wealth on paper to do so without outside financing. TWTR could sue Musk for such an injunction, and use that to extract either a larger penalty or completion of the deal at the agreed price or a price acceptable to TWTR. An aggressive stance might be in the best interests of TWTR shareholders.
This all smells like early trump, except that Musk isn’t as incompetent as trump. Trump wasn’t always as crazy as he has been the past decade, he devolved.
Imagine this future: 10-20 years from now, the worlds richest and most influential person devolving into autocratic madness and controlling of one of the primary global information distribution networks.
To be fair, far less wealthy people do that all the time too. Suing is expensive and not always worth your time/money. That’s one issue I have with the Anglo Saxon judicial system…