Musk's asset accrual and paying for Mars

[ncb1397]

Currently now the richest person in the world

https://twitter.com/robtfrank/status/1347193416048902144

Forbes disagrees..

Jeff Bezos: 186.1B
https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-bezos/?list=rtb/

Elon Musk:$173.6B
https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?list=rtb/&sh=31abceeb7999

And the Forbes list is kept more up to date with the Bloomberg list only updating daily.

Well looks like Forbes has changed it's mind

They actually have both changed their mind...again. Forbes and Bloomberg now agree that Elon is second place. Some kerfuffle over bitcoin holdings and valuation and cars they promise vaporizing from the online configurator.

[M.E.T.]

Currently now the richest person in the world

https://twitter.com/robtfrank/status/1347193416048902144

Forbes disagrees..

Jeff Bezos: 186.1B
https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-bezos/?list=rtb/

Elon Musk:$173.6B
https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?list=rtb/&sh=31abceeb7999

And the Forbes list is kept more up to date with the Bloomberg list only updating daily.

Well looks like Forbes has changed it's mind

They actually have both changed their mind...again. Forbes and Bloomberg now agree that Elon is second place. Some kerfuffle over bitcoin holdings and valuation and cars they promise vaporizing from the online configurator.

You realize that Tesla is a volatile stock with wild swings in both directions, right? It dropped about 10% in the last day. As a consequence Musk’s wealth varies in similar fashion.

Two weeks from now it may jump by 20%. Doesn’t really change the bigger picture.

[su27k]

Musk Forms ‘X Holdings’ After Hints at a Parent Company for Tesla, SpaceX

Elon Musk formed a trio of holding companies as part of his bid to acquire Twitter Inc., potentially giving the billionaire a path to bring all of his business ventures under a single parent.

The new companies -- each with a variation of the name “X Holdings” -- were formed this week in Delaware, according to records filed with the state. Musk and his investing partners plan to put money into one of the entities to fund the purchase of Twitter shares in a tender offer, while a subsidiary would merge with the social-media firm, according to filings with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission.

While it’s not clear if the holding companies would have any affiliation with Musk’s current businesses, including Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., the name offers a clue. He has mused about creating a parent as far back as 2012, and in 2020 he said calling it “X” was a “good idea.” Musk also owns the domain “X.com” -- the name of the online payments company he started and eventually merged with PayPal.

[M.E.T.]

Musk Forms ‘X Holdings’ After Hints at a Parent Company for Tesla, SpaceX

Elon Musk formed a trio of holding companies as part of his bid to acquire Twitter Inc., potentially giving the billionaire a path to bring all of his business ventures under a single parent.

The new companies -- each with a variation of the name “X Holdings” -- were formed this week in Delaware, according to records filed with the state. Musk and his investing partners plan to put money into one of the entities to fund the purchase of Twitter shares in a tender offer, while a subsidiary would merge with the social-media firm, according to filings with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission.

While it’s not clear if the holding companies would have any affiliation with Musk’s current businesses, including Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., the name offers a clue. He has mused about creating a parent as far back as 2012, and in 2020 he said calling it “X” was a “good idea.” Musk also owns the domain “X.com” -- the name of the online payments company he started and eventually merged with PayPal.

Interesting, but he addressed this concept in his recent TED interview. The reality is that this is not possible for Tesla. He has tried to take Tesla private, and failed, and this was before its tremendous jump in value which makes it even more unaffordable now.

Possible to combine his smaller, private companies, I guess, but not clear what the actual benefit of that would be.

[sanman]

But Musk seems to be plunging ahead into the Twitter political maelstrom:

https://nypost.com/2022/04/22/x-holdings/

Elon Musk May Combine Tesla, Space X and Twitter Into New ‘Super Company’

Why is he moving in this direction? Is there some fundamental business interest of his involved here?
Or is he just turning socio-political crusader on a whim?

This seems to be a very unorthodox plan for getting humanity to Mars.

I can see where he's coming from - I've already previously noted the fact that political flux in Musk's adopted homeland threatens to crumble the ground beneath his feet, before he can get off the ground and over to Mars. So is Musk doing all of this as his protection plan to preserve his Mars agenda?

[alugobi]

This isn't a good side topic for the SpaceX thread.  It won't end well.

[sanman]

This isn't a good side topic for the SpaceX thread.  It won't end well.

But more importantly - will it end well for Musk and SpaceX? Spaceflight is already fraught with enough risks, without combining it with the uncertainties of politics, hence the benefit of a private space industry in the first place - but now things seem to be looping back into the vortex again. I'll end my commentary there.

[Luc]

The entire purpose is to retire political risk.

[su27k]

The entire purpose is to retire political risk.

Yep, that's exactly it.

[sanman]

Musk says he could take Twitter public again after a few years:



In the meantime, he would charge govts and businesses for usage.

[sanman]

Musk's foray into media ownership generating backlash from certain quarters:

[Welsh Dragon]

He'll get a lot more backlash from regulatory authorities which he should be worried about a lot more. His very naive views on absolute freedom of speech without taking responsibility won't match up well with the more mature European anti-hate speech legislation.

[M.E.T.]

He'll get a lot more backlash from regulatory authorities which he should be worried about a lot more. His very naive views on absolute freedom of speech without taking responsibility won't match up well with the more mature European anti-hate speech legislation.

If it’s the law he will comply with it. He has been pretty clear about that. And that means what you see on Twitter will differ based on geography. So in “more mature” Europe, Twitter will look different than it does in the US, for example.

[su27k]

Yeah, regional legal differences would be child's play for him, considering he's already handled it with Tesla and Starlink.

[sanman]

https://www.reuters.com/technology/musk-says-44-billion-twitter-deal-hold-2022-05-13/

May 13 (Reuters) - Elon Musk on Friday put his $44-billion deal for Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) temporarily on hold, citing pending details in support of calculation that spam and fake accounts indeed represent less than 5% of users.

Shares of the social media company fell 17.7% to $37.10 in premarket trading, their lowest level since Musk disclosed his stake in the company in early April and subsequently made a "best and final" offer to take it private for $54.20 per share.

The implied probability of the deal closing at the agreed price fell below 50% for the first time on Tuesday, when Twitter shares dropped below $46.75. read more

Twitter had earlier this month estimated that false or spam accounts represented fewer than 5% of its monetizable daily active users during the first quarter, when it recorded 229 million users who were served advertising.

"Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users," Musk tweeted on Friday.

[Robotbeat]

I wouldn’t be mad if the deal fell through. Tens of billions of dollars would buy like thousands of Starship flights, hundreds of flights to Mars, tens (and perhaps hundreds) of thousands of tons of payload to the Martian surface.

Like this person said: https://twitter.com/RationalEtienne/status/1523698267711696896?s=20&t=XfZ5nLwkKfmFSp3-5KraPA

And Musk acknowledged: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1523761969291218944?s=20&t=XfZ5nLwkKfmFSp3-5KraPA

[M.E.T.]

He is simply making the first move to force negotiations for a lower purchase price, given Twitter’s deteriorating position. Smart.

[abaddon]

I wouldn’t be mad if the deal fell through.

Agreed, not really a fan of this at all.

Like this person said:

You could create a better platform for <$1B. I've said it before and will reiterate again.

History is littered with better technology/platforms that lost to inferior solutions.  I think it'd be very difficult for someone to challenge twitter from a cold start at this point (not impossible).

It's a distraction from more important stuff though.

[Prettz]

He is simply making the first move to force negotiations for a lower purchase price, given Twitter’s deteriorating position. Smart.

His association with Twitter caused the deteriorating position.

[M.E.T.]

He is simply making the first move to force negotiations for a lower purchase price, given Twitter’s deteriorating position. Smart.

His association with Twitter caused the deteriorating position.

Without his offer Twitter would be trading in the low $30’s today. So no.