WEBVTT - Elon Musk Is Back at the Twitter Deal Table 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:05.560 From the heart of where innovation, money and power collive 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:10.880 in Silicon Valley and beyond. This is Bloomberg Technology with 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:27.360 Emily Jay. I'm Emily Chang in San Francisco, and this 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:30.840 is Bloomberg Technology. Coming up in the next hour, Elon 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:34.479 Musk changes his mind again, saying he will buy Twitter 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:38.440 after all at the original price. The Bloomberg scoop sends 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:43.080 Twitter share soaring and Testlas shares falling. Why the change 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:45.760 of heart after spending a fortune a lawyers trying to 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:47.839 get out of the deal to buy a company he's 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:51.159 now criticized for months? Will tip Twitter just drop it 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:53.519 suit or try to get more certainty that Musk will 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:56.080 actually go through with it this time? And how will 0:00:56.120 --> 0:01:00.360 this all impact? Musts roll at Tesla in Spain Sex 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:03.600 We've got experts on all angles. Will ask those questions 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:06.160 throughout this hour, But first I want to start with 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:09.760 the market reaction. Bloomberg's Ludlow has been across this all 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:12.800 day in New York and walk us through the ups 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.479 and the downs. Yeah, so, I mean Twitter shares surge 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:17.840 right the most sense. April fourth, which was the day 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:21.640 when Musk first disclosed his stake in Twitter, let alone 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:24.520 before he announced that he would try to buy the 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.040 company and take it private. Ultimately, we ended up with 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:31.480 gain of the stock was halted at one point for 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:35.200 volatility and then resume trading. And by that point Muscut 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:37.920 updated is thirteen D filing to let us know what 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:40.200 go it was going on, and a Twitter spokesman has 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:42.080 spoken as well. Let's take a look at this terminal chart, 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:45.120 which is the spread, right, the difference between the fifty 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:49.480 dollar twenty cents per share price and the current share price, 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:51.840 and now it's off the chart, right. We're really closing 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:55.440 that gap as we moved towards something that we expect 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:57.680 to happen quite quickly. All of the conditions of the 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:02.040 original April agreement have largely been satisfied. And that is 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:04.320 what must talks about in his letter to Twitter that 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:07.360 was disclosed on Tuesday. He is going with the original 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:10.119 terms of the deal. You also mentioned Tesla. We did 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:12.440 see that stock pair a gain of as much as 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:15.560 six percent after that Bloom Blow scoop closing up by 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:18.000 around three percent. I think what's interesting here is that 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:20.919 the feeling in the market is Musk will at some 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:24.160 point have to sell some more Tessa stock to cover 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:27.000 the equity portion of the financing for this deal. But 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:29.480 there's also an element of key Man risk. Right Elon 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:33.120 Musk is the CEO of both Tesla and space x. Well, 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:35.080 if he is going to buy Twitter, how much of 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:37.000 a distraction is that. I know you've got some great guests. 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:39.120 You can put that to question too. But we're back 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:41.600 to where we started him. What a day. It's not 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:44.720 a done deal yet. So because I've got the letter here, 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:47.000 which you can look at Bloomberg dot com, the letter 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:49.280 saying we write to know notify you that the Musk 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:52.359 parties intend to proceed to the closing of the transaction 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:57.079 subject to the conditions set for therein and pending receipts 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.520 the proceeds of the debt financing. So he's trying to 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:04.120 put some conditions on the deal. We look back in April, 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:07.680 Musk raised or secured twelve point five billion dollars of 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:11.400 debt financing and an additional five million revolving credit line. 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:14.239 That's split between a six point five billion leverage loan, 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:18.000 three billions of secure bonds, three billions of unscured bonds. 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.240 What's changed is yields are soaring the market has changed 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:24.880 and it's a really difficult time to sell leverage debt 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:28.400 or buy out debt. And so basically the banks that 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:31.640 Musk has engaged we have to go to asset managers 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:33.920 and try and get this debt sold. It's a much 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:37.320 harder sell in present day than it was back in April, 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:39.720 so there's an uncertainty there. But as I said, go 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.480 back to the original or April agreement. Look at section 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:46.520 two point to the closing and the conditions, and a 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:49.840 lot of those conditions are now met, shareholder approval from Twitter, 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:53.400 regulatory waiting periods have surpassed, so it could be interesting 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:56.960 to see how quickly the closing of this deal proceeds. 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.000 And as Kurt's going to go through some of the reporting, 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:01.640 I think haf and st Je mccule make the Chance 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:05.040 Street judge, who was due to preside over the child 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.040 in October. She's basically saying, how is this going to 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:10.920 go moving forward? Right? She said, come back to us 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:13.880 with a proposal. Okay, thank you. We're going to talk 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:15.960 to a little bit later in the show. It all 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:19.159 started with a Bloomberg scoop, Bloomberg obtaining a letter from 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:21.520 Elon Musk's team stating that he wants to go ahead 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.280 and buy Twitter after all for the original price and 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:27.159 twenty cents a share. Let's get right to Bloombergs Kurt Wagner, 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:29.799 who helped break this story, as well as Geruber Kawasaki 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.200 President and CEO Ross Gerber, who owns Tesla but sold 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:36.120 his stake in Twitter over the course of all of this, Kurt, 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:38.120 I want to start with you, what is the very 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:41.120 very latest that we know? Yeah, I mean you and 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:44.160 Edward kind of hitting on it. Right. Obviously, Elon Musk 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:46.760 is saying, hey, let's get back to this original deal 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.720 that we had in April. Twitter has said, hey, we 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:53.120 want to close this at per share, which is what 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:55.000 they've been saying all along. Now, you would think, okay, 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:57.680 both sides are at the exact same spot, right, that 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.000 was the agreement that was in April. Now, the fact 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.320 that there is a little bit of reservation here or 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:06.680 hesitation just goes to show how much distrust has you know, 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:09.320 come up between these two sides over this process. Right. 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:11.120 So the fact that both of them are saying they 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:13.479 want the exact same thing on the same day, and 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:16.360 yet people are still waiting to say, well, let's wait 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:18.960 until it's officially signed on the dotted line. That just 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:20.400 kind of gives you a sense of how this has 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.240 played out, that that everyone is gonna hold their breath 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:26.360 until this becomes final final, which we may find out 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:28.320 in the next couple of days. Right, and who can 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:32.200 blame them? Right? As a Tesla investor, Ross, you weren't 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:35.839 happy about Elon Musk trying to buy Twitter at all. 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:38.560 You got out of Twitter. What are you thinking now? 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.960 I'm thinking it's gonna make the business books on how 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:47.960 not to buy a company. Um, he's literally created a 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:51.640 huge loss for himself by really the way he's handled this, 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:55.119 because a lot has changed inside Twitter in the last 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:57.920 four months as well, and including a mass amount of 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:01.279 high quality individuals who worked at Twitter leaving and a 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:05.080 lot more planning on leaving. So he's paying the highest 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:07.599 price possible. He's trying to get dead at the worst 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:11.640 time possible. He's basically being forced to buy this company. 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:13.360 It's not like he changed his heart. I think his 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:15.919 lawyers just told him he was gonna lose. And so 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:18.440 this is what I thought the whole time, And I 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:20.120 got out of this mess because I didn't want to 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:21.920 be involved with this mess, and I'm grateful I did. 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:24.479 I lost a little money, but but this is a mess. 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:28.880 It's really not great for Ellen. That said, I'm glad 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.640 that it's going to come to a conclusion and and 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:34.680 hopefully as a Tesla investor, we can get back to 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:37.880 focusing on the most exciting company in the world. Kurt, 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:42.440 let's talk a little bit about how Twitter is digesting this, 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:46.280 you know, because they haven't dropped their litigation and talking 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:50.279 to my sources, you know, if your Twitter, you're gonna 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:53.880 want some certainty. Is he really serious right now? Is 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:57.839 this really what are you hearing from the Twitter camp 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:02.120 about what their next move is? Right Well, to your point, 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:04.640 going back to that distrust I was talking about earlier, 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:08.080 right there, there's not a lot of incentive for anyone 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.320 to simply say we're gonna drop everything we're doing because 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:14.080 this guy said X. Right, and so I think, you know, 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:18.200 my understanding is that Twitter would need to stay or essentially, 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.120 you know, retract its lawsuit against Musk in order for 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:24.160 him to sign this um. Presumably, you know, if they 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:26.280 believe that he's operating in good faith. That would be 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:28.600 the next step was that they'd say, okay, the lawsuits over, 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:32.640 let's get back to the original agreement. But again, the 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:36.080 fact that we're even discussing this, it just shows how 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:38.720 fractured that relationship has been. And Emily, we've talked about 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:41.720 this before. What's crazy is this is now who they 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:44.160 want to run Twitter, right, A person that they've kind 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:46.400 of painted as a liar, someone that they painted as 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.680 as uh, you know, not prepared to operate the social network, 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:52.080 and yet they're fighting to get him to do it. 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:55.080 That's where employees are today, right there, suddenly waking up 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:57.920 and saying, okay, now, this kind of in some of 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:00.320 their minds worst case scenario is coming true, which means 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:02.200 that they're going to have a new boss very shortly, 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:04.360 and it's someone that they might not necessarily agree with 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:06.800 on a bunch of different things. Right. And you know, 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:09.160 from many perspective, Twitters in a worse position than it 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:11.920 was when Elon Musk decided to buy the company because 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:14.960 of what's happened with morale, what's happened with folks leaving 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:18.760 the company on the Tesla side. Ross. You know, clearly 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.720 investors are concerned about this, given the reaction to the stock. 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:24.920 Do you believe the concern is more that he might 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:28.120 sell Tesla stock to finance this deal, or the key 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:32.199 man risk that his attentions are going to be even 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:37.560 more divided. So you know, from the perspective of Tesla, 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:39.679 he sold a lot of stock already and it's been 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:42.680 an overhang all year from those sales. And if he 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.080 has to sell you know, another couple of billion, it's 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:47.400 a huge company and and that will be that and 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:50.600 so it takes away that uncertainty either way. I don't 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:54.400 think it's that material from an economic perspective. But I 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:57.080 think the second issue brought up is material, which is 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:01.600 being CEO of three major companies is not something humans 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:05.439 can do well. And so I get that he thinks 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:08.320 he can do this, but this is now a media property, 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:10.719 which is very different than running a space or e 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:14.120 V which are both technology companies, and and the dynamics 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:16.840 it takes to run a media company is completely opposite 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:19.320 from his skill set. And that's been more than proven 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:21.960 by the way he's handled the employees of Twitter, like 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:23.920 at all hands meeting. And I think you guys are 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:27.680 being nice saying that there's distrust. It's not distrust, it's hate. 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:32.680 They hate him. Okay, he's created a situation. He created it, 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:35.480 and I love Ellen, you know, I'm I'm a fan 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.240 and supporter, don't get me wrong, but I have friends 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:41.480 at Twitter and they hate him. So this is like 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:45.200 to getting to divorced people who hate each other to 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:49.320 now get married again. Now, if I'm Twitter, I'm not 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:52.080 gonna get rid of this lawsuit at all. I'm going 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:56.120 to force specific performance on Elon because there's no trust 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:59.520 there at all. So this is a really really difficult situation, 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:01.240 and I think that it's the risk, the key man 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:05.080 risk to Tesla is that now he gets this company 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:08.560 and you know, like, tell me what day is gonna 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:11.680 be easy for him at Twitter? And the reality is, Kurt, 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:14.320 let me know if I'm right here, I mean, Elon 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:17.720 Musk could own Twitter in a matter of days, right, 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:21.000 This could all happen really quickly, That's right. Well, all 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:24.720 of the kind of stipulations for the deal closing have 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:27.760 have already happened, uh, including the shareholder vote, which we 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:31.280 you know covered last in September last month, and so 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:34.040 you know, yes, this could all happen very quickly. What 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:38.280 I find kind of crazy and sort of ironic and hilarious, right, 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:40.839 is that the last guy who are on Twitter essentially 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:43.959 was asked to leave because he had two jobs, right, 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:45.719 and now the guy who's running Twitter is going to 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:49.200 have three jobs. This has been said before, but the 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:53.880 irony here Emily is quite strong strong indeed, uh ross 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:59.920 As a Tesla shareholder, what's your biggest concern about how 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:02.400 you know he plans to run Twitter, If he plans 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:04.959 to run Twitter, how involved he plans to be in management? 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:07.480 And what would you like to see. I'm assuming a 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:12.240 more hands off approach, you know, this whole face. You know, 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:14.719 I don't know how he got himself into this, but 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:17.560 you know, and he's a very smart guy, so I 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:22.560 don't know. But that's said, I mean, I just don't 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:26.800 know where this goes. Like, uh So, I think the 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:30.079 most important thing is that he stayed as much out 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:33.400 of politics as possible, And obviously that's just not gonna happen, 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.160 and it's going to create a lot of a lot 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:40.319 of negativity towards him, and and you know, I just 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:44.880 it's a really politically difficult environment to have an opinion 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.000 about politics in the day and age. And of course 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:49.600 you all in the media know this. More than anybody, 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:55.319 and and every time he makes political statements, he's attacked mercilessly, 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.160 and much of it for good reason. So that I 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:00.920 think is the problem with him run in Twitter is 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:02.839 it put some square in the face of a lot 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:05.720 of issues that have nothing to do with Tesla that 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:09.880 will affect people's perception of Tesla. And you know, I 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:12.199 think it's there's a point at time where Tesla is 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:14.880 a big enough company, and it's it's now where it's 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:18.600 not that it's like Ellen needs to give a little 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:21.880 bit of control up so that investors feel more confident 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.040 about the secession plan. This is what I've been talking 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:26.360 about for like years, that there needs to be a 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:29.160 strong number too at Tesla and there needs to be 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:32.440 a deeper management best bench. And Tesla tells me all 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:34.880 the time how great all these young people are, which 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:37.160 I agree, but I'm like, you need to promote these 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:40.079 people and you need to show and give these people 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.959 some power over the business, because the perception right now 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:45.880 is exactly what you're saying, is now this guy runs 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:49.559 three public companies and in different industries, Like once again, 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:53.240 I don't think that's possible. So something's got to give, 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:56.960 and you know, hopefully it's not Tesla, that's for sure, 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:02.600 And Kurt, four weeks away from an election. Um, you 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:04.640 know how our folks at Twitter thinking about this if 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:07.280 this does happen right in a matter of days. The 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.520 election is four weeks away. And Ellen has said repeatedly 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:13.040 he doesn't you know, agree with a lot of Twitter's policies. 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:16.839 He doesn't necessarily think they're necessary. Right, these are things 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:19.160 that have been kind of implemented over years, right over 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:22.280 multiple election cycles. And uh, you know, the big one, 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:24.720 of course, is he said he would bring back President 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.440 Donald Trump on the Twitter if if he was owning 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:29.720 the company, right, and there is a chance that all 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:32.280 of those different things could come, you know, into play 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:34.080 over these next couple of weeks in the lead up 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:37.040 to the US mid terms and and you know, not 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.560 even looking ahead to whatever happens in four So I 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:42.400 do think that there's a lot of people who are 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:46.160 very conscious of that. We're probably very worried about that, 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:49.040 mostly because they just don't exactly know what he's going 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.520 to repeal or take away if he indeed, you know, 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:53.600 becomes a CEO, and how quickly they would move on 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:56.480 something like that. But given where we are with this election. 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:58.200 It has to be noted that that that kind of 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:01.160 stuff could play a factor. It's gonna be hard, probably 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:05.320 impossible to stay out of politics given the timing. Okay, 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:07.800 Bloomer's Kurt Wagner, thank you. We're going to continue to 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:11.280 watch your reporting. Great job breaking that story. Gerber's Kawasaki 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:14.680 President and CEO, Ross Gerber, always appreciate your commentary here. 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:27.480 Thank you. All right. Today's big story Elon Muska Green 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.040 to buy Twitter at the original price. What does it 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:32.800 all mean for the months long legal battle between the two. 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:35.560 Let's bring into a law school's associate Dean and Lipton 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:39.520 for more and from a legal perspective, given Elon Musk 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:41.760 has already spent a lot of money trying to make 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:45.360 this go away, what do you think changed on his end? 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:48.480 I think, um, in many ways this is almost the 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:51.360 most expected outcome of all, which is settling on the 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:54.680 eve of trial just before deposition of the main players, 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:57.280 the Elon Musk himself. I mean in that sense it's 0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:01.520 actually very traditional sort of settlement, and so he doesn't 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:04.160 want to be deposed. He has, you know, probably some 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:07.920 embarrassing text messages and conflicting statements and all of that 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.440 would make for a very unpleasant deposition for him. He 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:14.520 is was scheduled to be deposed later this week. Everyone 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:17.320 on Twitter's end has been deposed, So perhaps you're right 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:19.440 he didn't want to go through that process. But it's 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:24.160 not really a settlement at all because he's not essentially 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:29.440 winning anything. I mean, the price is the same. Yeah, yeah, 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.120 he's he Yeah. I mean I think the idea must 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:37.480 be something like um uh, Twitter already took a shareholder vote. Uh. 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:40.200 To go back to the shareholders and ask them to 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:44.480 accept less would not only be time, it would be 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:47.240 time consuming, It would be embarrassing. Twitter would have to 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:49.400 explain why it was doing this when in fact it's 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:52.080 in a very strong legal position. And if the goal 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:55.840 year is to stop the proceedings in court, there may 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:58.000 not have been enough time. I mean, trial was supposed 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:01.080 to start in two weeks, getting the papers together just 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:03.560 to have a second share hold the vote, would you know, 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:08.240 very possibly not get the goal of stopping the delaware 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:12.040 of proceedings going forward. So that is ultimately likely. It 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:14.880 is part of must thinking in terms of not even 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:19.360 pushing further to get a couple of dollars off the price. Interesting, 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.800 so walk as there. How this will likely play out 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:25.720 in court because if you're Twitter, you're wanting to get 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:28.600 some certainty that he really means it. This time he 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:32.640 threw in some language about dead financing and a condition, 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:35.440 and I'm sure that's making the Twitter folks say, hey, 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:38.960 what does he mean by this? Could they still go 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:43.840 to a judge and ask the judge to somehow uh, 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:47.520 you know, be part of the agreement or somehow further 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:50.880 enforce an agreement. Yeah, I think, and I think that's 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.440 probably what Twitter wants. I mean, the defining thing thing 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:55.320 was always a condition for him to follow through, So 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:58.440 I don't think that necessarily adds anything like he was always, 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:00.760 um not going to be under an obligation to close 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:03.240 unless he at the debt financing in place. But I 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:06.560 think that um, but his his letter was very kneeling. 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:09.520 Now it's very unclear exactly how much he was committing 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:11.880 to in that letter. And Twitter obviously is not gonna 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:15.159 want to give up its trial date and undo the 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:17.960 depositions that are scheduled or what other proceivings are scheduled. 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:20.040 It's not gonna want to change any of that until 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:23.719 it's rock solid that this is for real, absolutely definitely happening, 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:26.520 no bacsies. So they might seek some kind of court 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:29.280 order that requires him to go through with the deal, 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:32.520 or some kind of court representation that he's not going 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:36.359 to make any additional arguments and so forth, and gathered 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:38.320 that's exactly what they're going to be trying to work 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:41.480 out next and being told that's called a consent judgment. 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:44.359 Is that what you're talking about by a court order? Yeah? Yeah, 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:46.520 it could be something like that, some kind of you know, 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:49.879 exactly some kind of judgment by the court that he 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:53.680 has agreed to uh buy the company in particular price, 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.280 go through whatever that needs to go through, and that way, 0:17:56.440 --> 0:17:58.560 if he defies it and he's defined a court order 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:01.080 of using the chance of court, given all of these 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:03.400 you know, legal issues to work out, is it your 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:06.119 understanding that this could happen in a matter of days. 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:08.600 Do you think it's likely we get to that October 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:11.960 seventeenth trial date or that this is you know, said 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:14.320 and done before then. I think it's very possible it's 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:16.359 going to be done. I mean, obviously Twitter is suspicious. 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.040 Twitter is you know, suspicious that this is some kind 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.000 of game by must to delay things and they don't 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:24.600 want to let that happen. And if he is actually 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:26.560 trying to play some town of game, then obviously we're 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:29.240 still going to go forward everything. But I think it's 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:32.280 very likely that this is serious and as soon as 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:36.119 must can get the assurances the Twitter needs, UM, things 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:38.359 can probably happen very quickly. After that. The company has 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:41.080 already gotten the regulatory aprouvals and the shareholder approval that 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:43.080 it needs to close, so it's really just a matter 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:45.840 of getting the financing and that probably won't take very long. 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:50.240 So yes, I think that this could definitely close soon. 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:55.240 And uh with the trial date will will be suspended 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:56.800 that there won't be a trial. I think that's very long. 0:18:57.359 --> 0:19:01.439 So after let's say that happens Moscow's Twitter, you know, 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:03.800 we're a few weeks out from an election, what happens? 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:08.159 You know, how quickly could he just start making changes? Right? 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:10.320 I mean, you know, he's in charge of the company, 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:12.680 and he can make whatever changes. Lots I suppose he 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:15.080 orders it on. The question is whether he really does 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:17.760 want to. I mean, I think um, part of the 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:20.520 reason that he may have gotten cold feet about the 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:23.280 whole deal was because he didn't necessarily want to change 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.120 responsibility for all of that. And I don't know if 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.440 he wants to thrust himself into that kind of political 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:31.600 spotlight right away, but I mean, you know, once it's 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:33.639 his company, he can order what he wants, all right. 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:36.600 So much to continue to tease out here, to continue 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:39.200 to follow and lipped into Lane Law School's associate Dean 0:19:39.680 --> 0:19:42.960 always appreciate you um sharing your legal perspective with us. 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:44.760 Thank you. We're gonna have much more come up next. 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:57.800 Stay with us. This is Bloomberg. Some more stories were 0:19:57.800 --> 0:19:59.720 following micro and I said it plans to invest as 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:02.600 much as a hundred billion dollars over the next twenty 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:05.680 years to build a factory in upstate New York. This 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:09.160 in an effort to boost US production of memory chips. 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.560 The company says this is the largest private investment in 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:17.879 New York state history. This comes in conjunction with the 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:20.760 investment that we had announced in Boise a few weeks 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:24.120 ago the leading edge memory manufacturing fab Data as well, 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:28.760 and the two together with helpers bring our domestic production 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:33.040 to by the end of the decade versus ten percent 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:38.080 currently meantime. Tesla rival Rivan reported progress in ramping up production. 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:43.440 Van also reaffirmed its goals building electric vehicles this year. 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:46.679 Rivan says it produced more than seventy three hundred cars 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:48.960 in the third quarter. Will have more on that later 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:52.080 this hour. And Meta plans to close one of its 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:55.359 New York offices as the company winds back expansion plans 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:59.040 in the city. According to Bloomberg sources, Meta has been 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:03.639 consolidated it's New York workforce, building out offices and Hudson Yards, 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:06.840 and moving ahead with other office plans near Penn Station. 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:10.480 Last week, met It announced the hiring freeze and restructuring. 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:22.840