If Musk "steps down" as Twitter CEO, per his latest bogus "poll", some things to remember:
1) He'll still be in control. The owner sets the policy the CEO carries out. The owner decides in the end.
2) He lies incessantly. Nothing he says can be trusted, ever.
3) Big Journalism will breathlessly cover the charade as if it meant something, and will continue to support a man who loathes honest reporting and has contempt for genuine freedom of expression.
@chemoelectric @dangillmor - If and when he brings in other shareholders than it won't be private any longer.
But moreover, as long as it is a "corporation" the legal separation between shareholders, directors, and officers remains. The IRS and state would be extremely interested if it were operated as a sole proprietorship. That's often called "piercing the corporate veil".
@chemoelectric @dangillmor I do wonder whether Twitter is at risk of having its corporate structure invalidated and being treated as a sole proprietorship?
If Twit** collapses there will be enough outstanding debt to induce a lot of people to ask that question and try to reach Musk's other assets (such as Space-X & Tesla.)
@karlauerbach @dangillmor Which brings up for me that Musk is treated by the media as a serious space guy, and they haven't even noticed he was silent about the Artemis 1 mission.
Musk doesn't give a darn about space, and SpaceX employees probably really answer only to NASA and other gov't agencies, not Musk. Otherwise the rockets wouldn't work.
1.42K Posts, 369 Following, 377 Followers · Sheffield artist , former teacher of English/Drama in Kuwait, Dubai, France and UK Acrylics, watercolours, collage, money art, Street art. Altered road signs. Once grappled with Robert de Nero in the film 'Ronin'. Former Business Manager for an arts charity. Bid/Grant writer extraordinaire (Freelance) Theatre Maker. All artwork for sale. Just message me. Just created the #Withnail bot : @[email protected]
@chemoelectric @sir_j @dangillmor - They could be, but if I were making a big loan I'd want the corporate assets, not the stock shares, to be the security for the loan.
It's the difference between buying a car in which the car is the sole security for the loan and buying a car in which the car *and* your other assets server as recourse to secure the debt. As a borrower you want the first, as a loan maker you want the second.
@Roberto_the_robot @dangillmor - Twitter is still a Delaware corporation. (Just checked)
It seems that Delaware allows a corporation to have a board with only one member - but it still has a board. I haven't seen but one can guess that Musk is that one.
But even with one that board member has to wear two hats and clearly differentiate the roles else risk penetration of the corporation.
Musk is creating muddy waters that may invite invalidation of the corporate form.
@akaBeth10 @dangillmor - I haven't dredged into Delaware law - I've only set up corporations/LLCs there a few times. However, if I remember correctly even Delaware. does not permit corporations without a board or directors - but they do allow it to be a degenerate board with only one member.
I was digging through the freely available Delaware Twitter documents and they've done a good job of moving all info into the "pay $$ to get" category. SEC filings don't tell us enough.
@dangillmor The only reason he'd step down is if he saw some way to leave some other sucker holding the bag.
I still have "January" in the "In what month will Twitter declare bankruptcy" pool. He's got a mountain of debt he can't service, regulators starting to circle, and no way to boost revenue. He can cut people and make his expense sheet look better but that's just pushing costs into the future. So he'll want someone to own that terrible future and take the blame for it.
@dangillmor It's a stunt meant to placate his Tesla investors, who are rightly wondering why he's fiddling around with Twitter as Tesla becomes a raging dumpster fire.
I call him Enron Musk for a reason.
Mark cuban is the only guy that I believe can save it…
but why would he want to?
He doesn’t need the hassle.
“Just overheard Elon Musk discussing investment opportunities from the Amir of Qatar @TamimBinHamad & other Saudi Royals for his businesses, specifically Twitter,but from their body language & diplomatic response, it didn’t seem very positive. They asked him to find a suitable CEO”
Most twitter polls from what I have seen on the interwebs points to about 1% of userbase and that's being generous 🤣
@dangillmor I trust him even less. There are 9 hours to go, enough for him to rig the vote. Anyway, I voted to keep him, I want him to go down with the ship full of crap he created.
Anyway, as you said either way he still owns it. Ultimately using Twitter is supporting him.
“Just overheard Elon Musk discussing investment opportunities from the Amir of Qatar @TamimBinHamad & other Saudi Royals for his businesses, specifically Twitter,but from their body language & diplomatic response, it didn’t seem very positive. They asked him to find a suitable CEO”
@dangillmor It may mean something if his equity partners have told him he needs to step back and STFU if they're going to bail him out of this jam.
He's not the "sole owner" -- even if he has invested a fairly huge chunk of his net worth in the company.
He obviously considers the 4th estate "the enemy of the people" just like Trump.
Musk is an angry man...and he's got 44billion reasons to be, but that doesn't mean he isn't an a$$hole...
@dangillmor The only solution is to encourage people to join Mastodon and delete Twitter.
Don't read tweets. Don't keep up with the Elon fiasco. Separate entirely. Eventually they will realize they are shouting into an empty room and the effort will not be worth it.
Don't even lurk. Don't drive traffic to Twitter. Pretend Mastodon is the platform you have been using all along and let's carry on.
jonas
Dan Gillmor
Tim Palmer
dmhindle
NH-Lycan
Karl Auerbach
Barry Schwartz 🫖
Ambigram Art
Briank65
Sir J Mastodon
R. Robot
Elizabeth
Jeff
Alan (he/him)
PhoenixWomanMN
sitnuok
Vidar Hokstad / Galaxy Bound
Komz hate fascists
Dan Shick
Tree
David Bruchmann
MementoMori
Kim Scheinberg
JaneGray
Dr. Guillermo Power 
John Malyon
Brian Hawthorne
danwest
Peter Principle
Graham Webster
hands0l0