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Except this is not a house. It’s a public company. And a lot of people own a piece of that company. And a lot of them were unhappy about how Twitter’s leadership was running things.

I honestly don’t care, I’m not on either side. But this was not a house sale, and Musk wasn’t a crazy dude approaching a home owner. He had a lot of support from shareholders since day 1.



Yes. And he promised those shareholders $54.20 per share, signed the contract, and now the same shareholders are suing to get the money. They don’t care what happens to Twitter if Musk takes over since they’ll have cash instead of shares at that point and can reinvest in something more promising.


He didn't promise shareholders anything. He signed a contract, which is almost the opposite of a promise.


It's by definition a promise


"a written or spoken agreement, especially one concerning employment, sales, or tenancy, that is intended to be enforceable by law."


Almost all contracts concern promises to do something in the future (e.g., deliver goods, perform services, pay money).


Obviously. A wedding vow is a promise to stay with someone. A prenup is a contract that you will stay with someone but have a clear exit clause. Musk signed a contract with an exit clause. The contract is a complicated document. If it was a promise it could be written on a hallmark card.


> Musk signed a contract with an exit clause.

There are some exit clauses (like Musk not getting financing from his banks) but they don't apply here. Specifically, there's no exit clause for the bot percentage.

> If it was a promise it could be written on a hallmark card.

Are you just trying to change the meaning of the word promise? Most people would agree that if you break a promise you pay a price - it might be a social one in case of a promise between friends. Or it might be a financial price in case of a written & signed promise, a.k.a a contract.


This is just pure misinformation.


No, you just misunderstand the breakup clause in this contract. It's not an exit for any reason and pay a fee clause.

Musk is actually obligated to buy the company at this point. It is unlikely the courts will fully attempt to force such a large purchase. But the penalty decided could be much higher than $1B.


I'm glad we finally all agree there is a breakup clause. If you want to argue that Musk will lose in court or that he promised Twitter share holders be will buy the company then I will still be here for that.


Why would he buy the company after the stock crashed? He could buy the company for way cheaper publicly. Who cares what the contract says, theres different rules for billionaires than there are for the contracts I sign. No sane person would go through with it after the stock crashed, its not a financially smart move. A lot of geniuses in this thread but lack basic social and common aptitude as usual. Life is not a fantasy, its corrupt and rich people can do what they want.


It crashed because of his antics.

The house was appraised and you signed a contract to buy it as-is. Then you take a hammer to every window and pipe then try to use that to negotiate a lower price.

Sorry, that is not how it works. It's clear that this is a continuation of Musk's feud with Twitter's management. His goal from the onset was to damage Twitter.


> It crashed because of his antics.

Is this true? My understanding is that the "crash" is inline with other tech companies losing value in the same period. IIRC (and I might not!), it only looks like Musk caused the crash if show only the Twitter price. Once you overlay it with some other stocks, it looks pretty normal.


> Is this true? My understanding is that the "crash" is inline with other tech companies losing value in the same period.

It spiked because of his antics and then crashed because of his antics.

Twitter stock today ($42.52) is basically where it was at the beginning of the year ($42.66 on Jan 3), on April 1 ($39.31, right before it was disclosed that Musk was the single largest shareholder), and where it was on May 16 ($37.39, after most of the fallout of him pulling out).

Please let me know if another tech stock's price has jumps that are aligned with those events.


wouldn't the "damages" be the difference between today's price and the price it would be today had there been no actions by Musk?

I'm having trouble finding a shareable link but it's clear he had an effect on the price when he made the offer and when he pulled out but, to me, TWTR appears to have gained in value compared to AMZN, GOOG and AAPL YTD.


To continue the terrible analogy of a home, what appraisal was done where on preparing to move in you find rising damp, nests of rats under the floorboards and the slap of paint on the roof was hiding the need for a full roof replacement?


Analogies are like cars, they're never perfect but that's OK.




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