Elon Musk $41B offer for Twitter

[roger.mellie]

rodericb said:

He's an interesting fellow and I do not own or plan on owning any goods or services produced by him but I wouldn't put him into the vapourware salesman category completely. I read a news article today about some Tesla thing and it was saying they'll produce 1.3 million cars or something this year. I did see that you no longer get the charging cable with the cars or something and there's a stack of other stuff which was either standard or now isn't, or is new but quite costly (such as the "self drive" software). Yet people keep buying the cars and the shares! Large and established car companies are trying their hand at producing electric cars which don't seem to be getting much headway against Tesla.

The intersecting of the Twitter business into the Musk cult is interesting in that I'd imagine there's a lot of conflicted people about now who are saving the world with their Tesla cars and "saving the world" in supporting moderation on Twitter.

Agreed. He's an interesting conversationalist. I've listened to him on the likes of Joe Rogan and really enjoyed how he has an eye for criticising inefficiencies and brainstorming ideas. But when I look at Tesla valuations and how much his hype depends on them or they depend on his hype I pass. I may be a fool for doing so but I feel the risk vs potential reward in backing him has long swung one way so I'm prepared and willing to lose out.

Twitter's what you make of it. Never read below the line on certain subjects or you'll find what a cesspit humanity can be. But treat it like a rolling news reel and curate who you follow (I tend to use lists as it means I never show up in follower counts and some of my lists have titles like aholes because I think we should all read people we disagree with, others are work related, others may be due to some TV show I like, and use likes as bookmarks rather than necessarily meaning I like something) and it can be a useful resource that I'd hate him to mess too much with.

[pquinn]

Hers a fun thing - compare the amount of money he's currently prepared to throw away on Twitter to what the total market cap of Tesla was just before he made his 'funding secured' tweet back in mid-2018.

[rodericb]

PeteinSQ said:

Tesla is starting to be a successful car company but is still hugely overvalued (imho). If they were valued at roughly what VAG is valued at it might make some sort of sense but they're valued at the same as all car companies added together.

The valuation thing seems pretty crazy on the surface but there are plenty of "tech" companies with crazy valuations (i.e. Twitter!). It's a dysfunctional market and dysfunctional economy at work. Too much money floating around and not enough worthy ideas on what to do with it....

[anonymous-user]

Twitter are apparently on the brink of accepting Musk's $43bn offer.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-twitt...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2022/04/25/...

[Byker28i]

I read that, yet this was after last weeks articles that twitter was putting in place ring fences to stop Musk. Seems strange, unless thats Musks people pushign the story around?
https://news.sky.com/story/twitter-adopts-poison-p...

[pquinn]

Byker28i said:

I read that, yet this was after last weeks articles that twitter was putting in place ring fences to stop Musk. Seems strange, unless thats Musks people pushign the story around?
https://news.sky.com/story/twitter-adopts-poison-p...

I saw Dan Ives of Wedbush being one name behind the reports, who is a bit(!) of a fan.

Latest reporting seems a bit odd, given how informal it all still is from Musks side yet reporters talking about Twitter paying a penalty to him if they take another offer?!

[Byker28i]

Add to that the Saudi Prince rebuking Musks takeover
https://www.reuters.com/technology/saudi-prince-al...

[grumbledoak]

Well, that was then. This is Bloomberg, today -

Twitter Eyes Deal With Musk as Soon as Monday
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-25...

[Byker28i]

grumbledoak said:

Well, that was then. This is Bloomberg, today -

Twitter Eyes Deal With Musk as Soon as Monday
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-25...

Yuo - what we're debating is if this is true, or if it's just Musks people pushing this story around...
Every previous story has been about significant objection to Musks buyout

[Byker28i]

Matt Bruenig
how sweet is that first trump tweet going to be
https://twitter.com/MattBruenig/status/15185812215...

[bodhi]

https://twitter.com/AuronMacintyre/status/15146539...

[pquinn]

Byker28i said:

Matt Bruenig
how sweet is that first trump tweet going to be
https://twitter.com/MattBruenig/status/15185812215...

Funny that people on either side think Elon is going to run some extreme right wing 'free speech absolutist' platform, given that nothing he has done ever before points that way.

Maybe sometimes things have lined up that way at certain times when it suited him (all his Covid bks), but he's been just as quick to get the CCP to block Tesla critics in China when that was in his interest.

[AyBee]

OzzyR1 said:

Glasgowrob said:

OzzyR1 said:

Probably showing my financial naivety here, but how does this actually work.

If I went to a funder for a large loan, it would have to be secured against my assets - property, business etc.

$41billion is a chunk of change by any measure. Would someone actually have to loan that to Musk to make the purchase? If so, what would they want as security - his shares in Tesla / Space X?

Or does it work in some other way?

generally speaking when you have his kind of wealth you can live on low interest loans and debt and with tax benefits for doing so.

i'd imagine he can borrow 41 billion somewhere without much issue really cant imagine he'll have that sitting in liquid assets even Tesla only has 10 billion on hand

I assumed something along those lines.

At that level it must be a huge decision for a lender though, $41billion is more than Deutsche Bank's revenue last year.

What happens if he somehow does a Ratner and substantially devalues it?

Can't see any way that would happen but it must be a major consideration for a funder.

Depends very much how he's financing it. He could be borrowing all the money against the value of his Tesla shares, he could be borrowing the "equity" portion via Tesla shares and then borrowing debt alongside that. The banks won't be lending anywhere near the full purchase price in order to protect their money.

[Harrison Bergeron]

bodhi said:

https://twitter.com/AuronMacintyre/status/15146539...

I’m commander Shepard and this is my favourite thread on the citadel.

[Ian974]

I still find it bizarre both that people think Twitter is important and that people will likely leave it because of the person trying to buy it

[BabySharkDooDooDooDooDooDoo]

Harrison Bergeron said:

bodhi said:

https://twitter.com/AuronMacintyre/status/15146539...

I’m commander Shepard and this is my favourite thread on the citadel.

Are they serious?

[grumbledoak]

Ian974 said:

I still find it bizarre both that people think Twitter is important and that people will likely leave it because of the person trying to buy it

I imagine the people who "will leave if Elon buys Twitter" will turn out like those who were "going to leave the UK if we leave the EU" and subsequently proved to be unflushable.

Still, all the Waily Waily is funny.

[tangerine_sedge]

Damn, I'm going to have to join, just so I can leave in a huff when Elon takes over!

[loafer123]

grumbledoak said:

I imagine the people who "will leave if Elon buys Twitter" will turn out like those who were "going to leave the UK if we leave the EU" and subsequently proved to be unflushable.

Here are those two groups in a Venn diagram;

[rjfp1962]

Elon Musk takes over Twitter

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61222470