Elon Musk: Always A Douche

[viper37]

Despite his recent open solicitation for commando litigators, he is using Skadden Arps to write these letters.

Interesting legal issue - he is using the information rights under the merger agreement to request raw data as opposed to the usual company books and records.

I wouldn't trust Musk to not disclose this data publicly, or to use it / share it with potential competitors.

But if you signed an agreement to make them available to him because he offered $54 per share and that was a condition of the purchase, it doesn't really matter if you trust him.

Of course though the order of operations is all wrong here.

Normally you sign a NDA, then do your due diligence, then you execute the purchase.

Musk does have the aroma of having buyer's remorse and trying to get out of the deal he's already agreed to.  Of course the deal does allow him to do so - if he pays the $1 billion break fee.

he was never really serious to begin with.  He's trying to get out of the deal without paying 1b$.

[alfred russel]

he was never really serious to begin with.  He's trying to get out of the deal without paying 1b$.

If he wasn't serious it seems like he wouldn't have entered an agreement with a $1 billion termination fee. It would seem more likely he was serious but with market changes either:

-now wants to pull out, or
-wants to negotiate a lower price.

If the latter, it definitely makes sense to make people think the former.

[viper37]

he was never really serious to begin with.  He's trying to get out of the deal without paying 1b$.

If he wasn't serious it seems like he wouldn't have entered an agreement with a $1 billion termination fee. It would seem more likely he was serious but with market changes either:

-now wants to pull out, or
-wants to negotiate a lower price.

If the latter, it definitely makes sense to make people think the former.

He agreed to the 1b$ fee to avoid losing face.  Now he tries to avoid losing both face and the billion dollar.

[The Minsky Moment]

Isn't the simple explanation:
1) He wanted to buy twitter
2) He signed the merger agreement + break fee because that's how one buys a company
3) The market tanked and he figured the $1 billion worst case would be a cheap price to get out of the deal at the now unreasonably high price per share

[Josquius]

I think it was a bit of a troll from the get go. Hoping he could get information from them about bots et al, score some shitty troll points and build his brand with the loopy right, fully intended to say this thing is broken and drop out from the get go.
That his offer was a pot joke (which I will never get) should be key here. Would be a mighty big coincidence for that to be what his calculations seriously said was fair.

[HVC]

Looks like a lot of SpaceX employees are going to be laid off.


SpaceX employees draft open letter to company executives denouncing Elon Musk's behavior

https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/16/23170228/spacex-elon-musk-internal-open-letter-behavior

[viper37]

Elon Musk, SpaceX and Tesla sued for 258 billion$ in alleged Dogecoin pyramid scheme

Elon Musk, SpaceX and Tesla were sued in federal court Thursday over claims that Musk directly "manipulated" the price of Dogecoin in a deliberate "crypto pyramid scheme" conducted over Twitter.

Plaintiff Keith Johnson – who purchased Dogecoin in 2021 – is seeking a class-action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against Musk and his companies SpaceX and Tesla, for at least $86 billion in damages.

Johnson argues Musk drove up the price of Dogecoin with his tweets about it, but that the currency lacks "underlying value" and Musk promoted it for his own "profit, exposure, and amusement."

Johnson is also seeking court orders to prohibit Musk from promoting Dogecoin, and to declare Dogecoin trading a form of gambling, under federal and New York law.

The suit claims Dogecoin is an "illegal wire fraud enterprise" fueled by promotion and manipulation over Twitter.

SpaceX has not responded to a request for comment from Forbes.
Key Background

Dogecoin's value has been on the decline over the past year, dropping to $.057 per coin Thursday, from a peak of $.64 last May. The cryptocurrency launched in 2013 at $.0002 per coin. Musk started promoting Dogecoin in 2019 with a series of tweets that included "DOGE" and "Tesla merch buyable with Dogecoin," both of which increased the Dogecoin's value. In Feb. 2021, Musk walked back on his support, tweeting, "I will literally pay actual $" to people who void their Dogecoin accounts." The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation that month into Musk for his tweets related to Dogecoin. Musk then tweeted, "Doge will live forever." Musk has continued to support, or at least mention, Dogecoin on Twitter, as well as on a May, 2021 episode of Saturday Night Live.
Crucial Quote

The suit says Dogecoin is a "fraud whereby 'greater fools' are deceived into buying the coin at a higher price."

I would not deny any facts stated in this lawsuit about Elon's Tweets and behavior toward Dogecoin. 

I'm a little fuzzy on how the plaintiff aims to prove Elon Musks knew all along Dogecoin was a bust and he was artificially inflating its value to cash in on the profit while other suckers were left with the bill.  I am also at a loss as to how this is currently illegal, ie, to incite people to buy some crazy product without any intrinsic value so that its price will increase and you will make more money.  People have been doing with art for ages.

[grumbler]

Musk also explicitly stated many times that his Dogecoin tweets were all silly and not to be taken literally.

But Musk is an example of the truth of  the statement made about Lincoln that "to really test a man's character, give him power."  Sorry, Elon, you flunked the test.

[The Brain]

Maybe people should get over themselves. The world doesn't revolve around some losers' Dogecoin fetish.

[Tamas]

Maybe people should get over themselves. The world doesn't revolve around some losers' Dogecoin fetish.

Except if you were stupid enough to YOLO into doge coin just because Elon told you to, then still holding it despite the pump and dump long have finished.

It's like, there are a lot of people there still holding Gamestop stock hoping for the "Mother Of All Short Squeezes" as if that hasn't happened already the stock jumped from about $40 to $483 in a matter of a week last year before falling back, FFS.

[Syt]

Musk also explicitly stated many times that his Dogecoin tweets were all silly and not to be taken literally.

But Musk is an example of the truth of  the statement made about Lincoln that "to really test a man's character, give him power."  Sorry, Elon, you flunked the test.

Side note - I was surprised to learn recently that apparently that quote has been misattributed: https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-abrahamlincoln-power-idUSL1N2PA1V7

[grumbler]

Musk also explicitly stated many times that his Dogecoin tweets were all silly and not to be taken literally.

But Musk is an example of the truth of  the statement made about Lincoln that "to really test a man's character, give him power."  Sorry, Elon, you flunked the test.

Side note - I was surprised to learn recently that apparently that quote has been misattributed: https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-abrahamlincoln-power-idUSL1N2PA1V7

Yes, as a history teacher I have been fighting that misattribution for years.  It appears in some pretty authoritative sources.

[Syt]

Looks like a lot of SpaceX employees are going to be laid off.


SpaceX employees draft open letter to company executives denouncing Elon Musk's behavior

https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/16/23170228/spacex-elon-musk-internal-open-letter-behavior

Seems like it: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/technology/spacex-employees-fired-musk-letter.html

I'm shocked, SHOCKED! that Mr Free Speech Absolutist or one of his companies would do such a thing.

[HVC]

Good thing he's not a hypocritical liberal, at least.

[crazy canuck]

Good thing he's not a hypocritical liberal, at least.

He is not involved with a university so all is good.  The free speechers need to focus on the real enemy.