Elon Musk Taps His Inner Trump in Twitter Machinations
It’s all fun and games until a judge gets involved and the reality of consequences starts to set in.
Running roughshod over business norms, securities regulations and the truth. Sound familiar?
Photographer: Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images
Maybe Elon Musk will acquire Twitter Inc. before a court-appointed Oct. 28 deadline to complete the $44 billion acquisition rolls around. Maybe the price of Tesla Inc.’s shares, currency that Musk may need to rely on to help pay for the deal, will bounce back from a grinding downturn. Maybe the seven banks that have arranged a $13 billion loan — and stand to lose as much as $500 million on the transaction — will hang tough. Maybe the coalition of rich guys and venture capitalists who promised to chip in $7 billion to support Musk’s bid will stick around.
That’s a lot of maybes, however, even for an entrepreneur accustomed to vaulting past expectations while also peddling ill-informed bunk about a wide range of subjects, including Covid-19, reality TV, reproduction, Martian democracy and the fates of Taiwan and Ukraine. And this time, for the first time, Musk has the law closely corralling his shenanigans. (Previous tepid monitoring and slaps on the wrist from the Securities and Exchange Commission don’t count.)