Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

In my day, never was longer.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Consistently wrong since 2002

This blog will pay for itself.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

We still have time to mess this up!

The revolution will be supervised.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

T R E 4 5 O N

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Commentary / Asshole / Late Night Open Thread: Never Be A Pop-Cult Celebrity

Late Night Open Thread: Never Be A Pop-Cult Celebrity

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Gina Chon & John Foley, “Twitter-Musk divorce court favors the kids”:

If the priority in a divorce is the kids, then the merger equivalent needs to be all about the shareholders. That’s more or less the outcome of the Delaware Chancery Court’s first decision on the $44 billion deal between Twitter and Elon Musk. On Tuesday, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick set a speedier October trial for the fight with Tesla’s boss, which favors the social network’s wishes. Swifter clarity is good for everyone, especially investors.

Shareholders have been shuffled between the combating parties since the saga began in April when Musk disclosed his investment in the social network. Shares hit a high of about $52 and a low of around $33 as the SpaceX founder touted and then ditched the deal. McCormick noted that the risk of irreparable harm to Twitter grew as uncertainty about its future was prolonged.

The social network pushed for an expedited trial in September for four days to force the erratic buyer to close the transaction. Musk, in turn, requested a February court date for 10 days. The court’s decision for a five-day hearing in October seems sensible. The deal has certain contingencies that expire in the fall, and blowing past those would have made Twitter’s shareholders face even more uncertainty. In that light, Musk’s interest in pushing the trial to next year was an extreme ask that was probably just meant to be a starting point for a negotiation, akin to demanding the house and the dog in a divorce…

All well enough, except… (trigger warning: body shaming)…

While the Chancery court met, Musk was in Greece, visiting a fellow billionaire’s yacht and swimming in the lovely Mediterranean Sea, as one does. Photographers for the Daily Mail were also in Mykonos, doing what *they* do — bringing joy to the cruel, shrunken hearts of snarksters.

… and there was, per the experts, surprisingly little pushback from the usual suspects…

But “seriously”…

Reader Interactions

37Comments

  4. 4.

    Kent

    Between Elon and all the cyber nerds going bankrupt it has been an entertaining last few months.  Uber stock is also in the toilet.

  8. 8.

    Roger Moore

    My gut feeling about Musk is that he’s basically an evangelist/promoter; less generously you could describe him as a huckster.  That type is very common in the startup sphere, because someone who can convince investors to put their money into the company and skeptical buyers to try a new product is really what the company needs.  Unfortunately for the rest of us, the media seems to be at least as easily suckered by this kind of huckster as investors and early adopters.

    The problem for Musk right now is that his companies have grown past the stage of needing him.  They need steady management who can convert their technological advantage into profitability, not a mercurial promoter.  I think, though I’m not sure, that both companies are in the process of sidelining him as an active leader in favor of someone who has the skill they really need.  That leaves him with too much time on his hands, and he’s filling the empty hours with self-destructive narcissism.

  12. 12.

    HumboldtBlue

    Kathaleen

    I wonder if that wasn’t a name insisted upon during the peak of labor and later inscribed into public record.

  17. 17.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    Of course Musk chose Mykonos. It’s a lovely island, but it’s also where crass people choose to go when they visit a Greek island. It’s where you go if you want to be seen, not to get away from it all.

    (Tom Hanks, for one, goes to a different island, which I suspect his wife’s Greek relatives may have introduced him to. Probably most people haven’t heard of it.)

  20. 20.

    James E Powell

    @Roger Moore:

    My gut feeling about Musk is that he’s basically an evangelist/promoter; less generously you could describe him as a huckster.

    So he’s like Elizabeth Holmes, but he attached himself to a product that works.

  21. 21.

    JWR

    For all the no-cable left coasters, PBS World is rebroadcasting yesterday’s hearing. (Midnight PST.)

  23. 23.

    Ruckus

    @Roger Moore:

    self-destructive narcissism

    At the end of the day, what other kind is there? Sure most of them will  screw over/take out a lot of people on the way but final exposure is almost always self destruction.

  24. 24.

    Ruckus

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Damn.

    That was an amazing race. He didn’t even look like he was working all that hard at the end. I’ve seen people give it their all, I’ve seen people that you wouldn’t expect to be great, be greater than anyone else. He still astounds.

  28. 28.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @WhatsMyNym: ​
    My shares of Soylent Green and Clampett Oil are booming. And I just bought 4 units in Nakatomi Plaza.​

  31. 31.

    Gvg

    It may be in twitter shareholders best interests to be overpaid for their stocks, but many twitter readers really didn’t want the unmoderated filth returning to twitter, Trump wasn’t the only one. In addition it always seemed likely to me it would bankrupt EM’s other asset companies to overpay that much for twitter, not to mention the loss in value to their shareholders as the deal seemed likely to go through drove their value down. I wonder if they can counter sue to at least remove Musk from any remaining control.

    I do think he is getting in trouble out of boredom.

    3rd time the rebuilt site hasn’t saved my info and there is no button to tell it too.

  33. 33.

    Stevie

    I have to apologize in advance for this body shaming crime but Elon musk shirtless looks like that Chinese mummy came to life and went on vacation to Greece!

  34. 34.

    Ken

    @Gvg: I will not be surprised if the court orders, say, a $10 billion payment, and it turns out Musk can’t actually come up with that much.

  36. 36.

    PaulB

    Speaking as an older, overweight, white male, I’m fine with body shaming, so long as it’s punching upward.

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