Summary
In the whirlwind of Elon Musk’s ambitious Twitter acquisition, a misstep by his legal team led to a rather embarrassing twist—an erroneously sent email containing sensitive financial information to the wrong recipients. This blunder, as unveiled by journalists Kate Conger and Ryan Mac in their upcoming book “Character Limit,” unfolded during the tension-filled negotiations leading up to Musk’s eventual purchase of the social media giant. During a tumultuous patch in mid-2022, when doubts lingered over whether Musk would close the deal, his attorneys found themselves inadvertently releasing a comprehensive spreadsheet that detailed the various investors and firms from which they sought financial backing. What made this slip even more striking was the sharply contrasting reaction from Musk’s camp—swiftly, they threatened the unintended recipients with legal repercussions if they did not delete the incriminating email and its contents immediately. In those anxious days, Musk’s acquisition felt fraught with uncertainty, so much so that the financial team at Twitter resorted to a darkly humorous coping mechanism, sharing jokes to mask the growing tension around the potential fallout from Musk’s wavering commitment. They were keenly aware that while most acquisition deals are marked by transparency regarding financial sources, Musk’s approach was anything but conventional. Instead of laying all cards on the table, Musk clandestinely funneled various funding streams into a single account, leaving Twitter executives clueless about where the money was coming from. When truth be told, the specter of Musk backing out from the venture loomed large, and the anxiety was palpable. During a crucial conversation about the deal, Musk’s advisor, Antonio Gracias, unceremoniously revealed a glaring shortfall of $400 million, suggesting that Twitter should essentially lend him the missing funds, all while trusting that he was good for it. Twitter’s executives, taken aback, were left grappling with the audacity of such a request. When they rightly refused, Gracias resorted to intimidation, questioning whether they dared to deny a demand from Elon Musk himself. This series of events encapsulates the chaotic tension and high stakes involved in Musk’s Twitter takeover—an entangled saga that not only reflects the billionaire’s audacity but also the weary resilience of the Twitter staff caught in the eye of this financial storm.
Original Source: futurism.com
