Elon Musk's Quest for Twitter Continues...

I can’t think of a more appropriate honor for Musk than to post on 4/20 about the absolute wild ride he is taking us on these last couple of weeks.  

Let’s Recap: 

April 4th: Musk acquires a 9.2% stake in Twitter and drops the news that he is the new sheriff in town.

April 5th: Twitter welcomes him with open arms and fake smiles to their merry band of board members.  Musk, in an effort to make W2 income from the board salary, appears to accept.

April 9th/10th: Musk announces on the day he was supposed to officially board that he will not accept the board seat after all.  Twitter collectively breathes a sigh of relief and CEO Agrawal announces this on the 10th. 

April 12th: A guy files suit against Musk over the Twitter shares purchase on the grounds of failure to file the appropriate notice by the appropriate time.  Musk who neither believes in paperwork or other people has not responded.  

April 14th: Musk announces via Twitter that he has made an offer to buy Twitter for $43 Billion at a share price of $54.20 using the change he found in his couch.  Given the reaction from the outspoken Twitter users, you’d think he announced plans to snap his fingers and kill half the Marvel Universe.  While the stock initially spiked, it ended the day almost 2% down.  Assumptions are that Musk’s takeover bid will not be welcomed.

April 15th: Twitter’s board woke up from their collective naps and stood firm that no shareholder will make money on their watch.  They set forth a “shareholder rights plan” better known as a “poison pill” defense strategy which would limit Musk from purchasing more than 15% of the company.  In this case, the poison pill would let all current shareholders buy discounted shares to weaken the interest of the individual mounting the takeover.  At the same time, Musk was interviewed at a TED conference and ominously referred to a Plan B if the takeover fails.  

April 18th: The SEC confirms this poison pill strategy and speculation is running rampant about who might join Musk in his takeover attempt or who might make a counter-offer for acquiring Twitter.  Blood is now in the water and the sharks are circling.  Basically, every big company you’ve ever heard of is rumored to be interested in Twitter. Names being thrown around include: Apollo Global Management and other private equity firms, Microsoft, Google, Disney, Facebook, Apple, News Corp, Salesforce, Verizon, Comcast, and “Chinese Internet Companies” i.e. China (the country).  

Whether this works for Musk or not, Pandora’s Box is open and Musk has made it known that he is ready to jump into the Activist arena in a huge way.  

May the odds be ever in your favor.  

Fun Fact: The $43 Billion offer Musk made is 16% of his net worth and roughly equivalent to the average American buying this beautiful $19,000* outdoor couch.  Mindblowing.  

*Average American net worth $121,000 in 2019