[Caymus]

Originally Posted by allsport

His midas touch was fuelled by family wealth from South Africa. No one who thinks he should spread his seed around as much as possible is fit to be called a genius. Narcissist is more appropriate including the observations that he has strong spectrum affinities.

This article claims he was not born rich. Is it a fake story?
Was Elon Musk Born Rich? (Complete Story)

[NewRealms]

Missed the whole point of this exercise. It was to expose Twitter's fraud and it's going to come out in the trial, if it ever gets that far. Twitter execs fell right into the trap. Mwaaa ha ha!

[Fltpkr]

It will be interesting to see how this develops. $44 billion is not chicken feed for anyone, including Musk. Of course, for some business people, litigation is just another negotiation tactic, but an early trial date puts a lot of pressure on Musk. The full Complaint can be found with a Google search - interesting reading. More specifically, the following is paragraph 4 of the Complaint, which is referring to the $44 billion purchase price.

"That price, presented by Musk on a take-it-or-leave-it basis in an unsolicited public offer, represented a 38% premium over Twitter’s unaffected share price. The other terms Musk offered and agreed to were, as he touted, “seller friendly.” There is no financing contingency and no diligence condition. The deal is backed by airtight debt and equity commitments. Musk has personally committed $33.5 billion."

The absence of a diligence condition, if accurate, and its relevance to Musk's subsequent demand for fake account information, would seem to be important issues for the court. Also, I wonder how the court will handle Twitter's request to compel completion of the deal. Twitter alleges that it negotiated a strong provision in the agreement to compel Musk to complete the deal. We will see how this all plays out.

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by Caymus

This article claims he was not born rich. Is it a fake story?
Was Elon Musk Born Rich? (Complete Story)

Shhh. Don't criticize fake news. You will get yelled at. When he started his first company he was $100,000 in debt (student debt).

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by NewRealms

Missed the whole point of this exercise. It was to expose Twitter's fraud and it's going to come out in the trial, if it ever gets that far. Twitter execs fell right into the trap. Mwaaa ha ha!

Might be.

Might be that this is just a "negotiating ploy". At that level of business knives are out and dirty tricks are coming. He could have pulled out to drive the stock price down, so Twitter would be in a difficult position. My understanding is that he has $1B in jeopardy (penalty for bailing on the deal) and so, if he drives the price down just $2B from the original $45B (say down to $43B) then he risked $1B to save $2B (or more.)

Since I expect NONE of us are included on his private emails, I seriously doubt any of us KNOW what he is doing or trying to do. So many people accept what they see/hear/read today, and so many people in power lied so often that it boggles my mind to read all the statements made here with so much confidence... LOL!

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by Fltpkr

It will be interesting to see how this develops. $44 billion is not chicken feed for anyone, including Musk. Of course, for some business people, litigation is just another negotiation tactic...

Exactly, and I expect no one here knows exactly what his end game is...

[fgaba1949]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I know that a lot of people think that Musk is a genius, but I don't. How could he even think that Twitter, which is just a website, was worth $44 billion? Why couldn't he just start his own website for almost nothing and compete with Twitter. He could even pay people to leave Twitter. And, why would he offer to buy the company for $44 billion and then ask Twitter to reveal information about their clients. That seems backwards to me. And, now he is being sued by Twitter for breach of contract. Didn't Musk have his lawyers prepare an ironclad contract, so that he couldn't be sued? The whole thing seems strange to me that a so-called business genius is involved in this mess. Just my opinion.

Just my opinion ...
I think u might be a tad jealous as he has done so much in his life time compared to 99.9% besides building incredible wealth
and he has assembled successful teams for Tesla Batteries and space travel . Sounds pretty good to me and how old is he ?

[MidWestIA]

Musk likes the limelight and having his pic in the news so when Twitter banned Trump Musk jumped up and said he would buy it - not smart just impulsive. Later he realized oh hell I don't want that I want out

[msilagy]

I would never question Elon Musk's reasons for anything. He just may have accomplished what he set out to do. No one is in his head and he is an eccentric guy!

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by fgaba1949

Just my opinion ...
I think u might be a tad jealous as he has done so much in his life time compared to 99.9% besides building incredible wealth
and he has assembled successful teams for Tesla Batteries and space travel . Sounds pretty good to me and how old is he ?

Jealous? I'll have to think about that.

I just thought it was a bad business deal and I gave my reasons.

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by MidWestIA

Musk likes the limelight and having his pic in the news so when Twitter banned Trump Musk jumped up and said he would buy it - not smart just impulsive. Later he realized oh hell I don't want that I want out

Can I assume this is your opinion and not something Elon told you? Because, presuming WHY someone else does things, always starts with why I would do it, and since I have never had the pleasure of being the richest man in the world, I have no idea what motivates him.

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by msilagy

I would never question Elon Musk's reasons for anything. He just may have accomplished what he set out to do. No one is in his head and he is an eccentric guy!

Exactly, perfectly said.

[Nucky]

I'm jealous of him. I thought I had the drive to succeed when I was younger but NOTHING like this guy.

Don't forget, a Billion isn't what it used to be. This is partially entertainment for him. Watching his competition twist over him getting involved.

He had a plan since the beginning and it is just unfolding now. I this doesn't work it's onto plan B. He has got this. He will end up owning Twitter for considerably less money. Mark my words.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by MartinSE

Why not? l seriously. Companies borrow money for expanion, development, etc all the time because it is cheap money. Oil companies are not drilling in the US right now because the banks that finance drilling took a beating last time they went on a drilling spree. Borrowing money is a fine old fashion financial strategy. If borrowing is cheap than taking cash out of something else it is a good idea.

So, now everyone can explain why it was a bad idea for Musk, because everyone else understands the intimate details of his holdings.

Do you really think the oil companies are not drilling in the US because of the banks not wanting to lend them money? Seriously?

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Do you really think the oil companies are not drilling in the US because of the banks not wanting to lend them money? Seriously?

Yes, I think the fact they already have about 1,000 permits and are not drilling and the fact that they normally borrow the money to drill and the fact that they are already running at 100% (95% to 98%) capacity combine all those and they are not drilling. Also, don't forget drilling a new well takes a couple years to come online and be productive. So, year, I think a leading contributor is lack of enthusiasm by their banks is a big cause. OH, and lack of workers because of COVID.

Here is an NPR article on it.

3 reasons why Big Oil can't simply drill to ease high gas prices : NPR