Elon Musk takes over Twitter

He doesn't have billions in the bank, FWIW. He actually has zero in the bank and borrows against the value of his Tesla stock to fund his lifestyle.

 

I think (and these are all 'I thinks,' but I have watched the guy for a long time, before he was a household name even), he believes the "town square" stuff and talks himself into having the bullshit ideals he jumps around between. But he really bought Twitter because he had a vague (He's an innovative genius!) idea about X, an "everything app" that would take over the marketplace for everything from food delivery to online shopping to buying plane and train tickets to ride hailing and messaging and payments and subscriptions and fintech banking and investing, etc. His grand plan is still to turn Twitter into what WeChat is in China. He's way more about $$ than people understand, even though he is actually a guy who has never been as financially successful as people assume with his ventures.

 

BTW. ... This was from the WSJ yesterday (the Washington Post did something on his drug use a few weeks ago)

The Money and Drugs That Tie Elon Musk to Some Tesla Directors

The article subhead is: Board members have reaped hundreds of millions from stock awards and separate investments, even as some have done drugs with Musk; former Tesla director Larry Ellison offered him a chance to dry out

Several current or former directors at Tesla and SpaceX attend parties with him, go on exotic vacations and hang out at Burning Man, the Nevada arts and music festival.

Musk and these directors, including venture capitalists Gracias and Ira Ehrenpreis, tech mogul Larry Ellison, former media executive James Murdoch, as well as Musk’s brother, Kimbal Musk, have invested tens of millions of dollars in each other’s companies—Ellison held billions of dollars in Tesla shares with about a 1.5% holding in 2022. Some also received career support and help from Elon Musk.

Most members of Tesla’s current eight-person board have amassed shares worth hundreds of millions of dollars from their seats over the years, significantly more than what board members at other companies make for their service.

Tesla pays its directors mostly in stock options, and the current board, not including Musk himself, collectively has made more than $650 million selling shares from those options. They hold additional options valued at nearly $1 billion. Some directors agreed to return a portion of that compensation to Tesla to resolve a shareholder lawsuit about their compensation while denying any wrongdoing. A judge has yet to approve the settlement.

Some current and former Tesla and SpaceX directors have knowledge of Musk’s illegal drug use but haven’t taken public action, according to people who have witnessed the drug use or were briefed on it.

The Wall Street Journal reported in January that Musk has used drugs including cocaine, ecstasy, LSD and magic mushrooms, and that leaders at Tesla and SpaceX were concerned about it, particularly his recreational use of ketamine, for which Musk has said he has a prescription. The illegal drugs violate strict antidrug policies at Musk’s companies and could put SpaceX’s federal contracts and Musk’s security clearance at risk.

At the upscale Austin Proper Hotel, Musk has attended social gatherings in recent years with Tesla board member Joe Gebbia, the
Airbnb co-founder and a friend of his, where Musk took ketamine recreationally through a nasal spray bottle multiple times, according to people familiar with the drug use and the parties.

Other directors, Gracias, Jurvetson and Kimbal Musk, have consumed drugs with him, according to people who have witnessed the drug use and others with knowledge of it.

Musk and some people close to him, including Kimbal Musk, attend parties at Hotel El Ganzo, a boutique hotel in San José del Cabo, Mexico, known for its art and music scene as well as drug-fueled events, according to people familiar with the parties.

The volume of drug use by Musk and with board members has become concerning, some of these people said.

In the culture Musk has created around him, some friends, including directors, feel there is an expectation to consume drugs with him because they think refraining could upset the billionaire, who has made them a lot of money, some of the people said. More so, they don’t want to risk losing the social capital that comes from being close to Musk, which for some feels akin to having proximity to a king.

Musk and his lawyer, Alex Spiro, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

 

FWIW. ... I find it all hysterical.

But I also strongly think that Delaware court ruling that took away his compensation package was an abomination. That package was approved by close to 75 percent of the owners of the company. It's their business, nobody else's, and courts shouldn't be involved in matters like those. I also think that anyone who isn't an insider who thinks that company is a buy and hold investment. ... is going to get what they deserve.

Stories like the one above won't change anything about Tesla itself, because it's been a momentum stock disconnected from anything fundamental in a cheap money environment. All the "investors" -- the Ron Baron types (he is so full of shit) -- who have owned it care about is that the frenzy continues and on paper the stock becomes more valuable. They could give a shit if Elon Musk is an unstable lunatic or if the BOD is a gladhanding bunch of shits handing out absurd compensation packages to Musk and themselves. ... so long as the stock price levitates. When that ends, they will abandon Tesla (trying not to be left holding the bag), and the cost of how the company is managed will be left behind.

But this has been my main objection about what our monetary mandarins have done to oue capital markets. Fundamentals don't matter, all that matters is liquidity flows and equity markets are a casino. It has rewarded a complete fuckwad like Elon Musk more than probably anyone else.