this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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It is most definitely his money. He is using his real source of wealth, Tesla stock, as collateral to secure the loans. $44 billion worth of Tesla stock. And when you sell off a huge amount, as would happen in the case of the collateral being seized, it would tank the rest of his wealth which is mostly in non-collateralized (as far as we know, in relation to Twitter) Tesla stock. Investors knowing that $44 billion of Tesla stock will be liquidated--even if slowly--by creditors would make prices tank.
Elon's rich. Like all rich people, he is inherently immoral and opportunistic, holding no allegiance to his species nor country of residence ("world citizens" are a blight yet most countries still let them buy citizenship--that's true class solidarity while they get us fighting over stupid shit like transgender Chess Grandmasters). I have a feel that you are correct in that he's been earning money from the Saudis and Murdochs and many others. But the main source of his wealth is still in the market. A source which he pumped up with market manipulation because the SEC is a captured entity run exclusively for the benefit of the parasites at the top.
But it feels like arguing around the edges a bit. Elon is just not good at this. He has failed upward his entire life which is why he had to buy his way into basically every successful enterprise he is credited for. Rich people, especially nepo babies like Elon, don't succeed because they are better. They succeed because the upper class ensures that their class succeeds, because the alternative is the working class becoming their peers. And they can't have that.
Considering that most of the market was stupidly overpriced, if you had 100b of worth in overpriced stock, and you had to choose between spending it or waiting for it to lose value over the next few months, what would you do?
Okay okay, now add the egotistical jerk trait and reevaluate the scenario?
You forget that it was an impulse offer, and he thought that most people that work at the company did not deserve to work there. He grossl overestimated how many new slave devs would be willing to replace the devs he fired. Experienced devs still get good pay and offers they don't need to grind for cheap for Elon.
I just want to add he's used tweets to manipulate stock prices before and it put the SEC on his ass. He's familiar with how making public announcements like that can come across to the law at that point. Even though he wasn't punished he knew where he the line was drawn well before he "impulsively" crossed it. Twitter was a haven for actual journalism and journalists who live by ethics knowing damn well the consequences for libel and slander. The stories they pushed had a massive influence on undoing his image and it keeps going. Same with his Saudi co investor and Larry Ellison. These guys all know what it was really worth.
Tax write off perhaps?