Francine McKenna: Elon Musk should have been stopped long before he came for Twitter
, a newsletter that delves into accounting, auditing, and corporate governance issues at public and pre-IPO companies. She joins the faculty of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the fall.s Elon Musk serious about buying Twitter? Given his track record for trolling and half-baked provocations, I doubt it.
Even so, Musk would have a much harder time making a pitch for Twitter if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had properly sidelined him the last time he attempted such antics. Whenfor casually tweeting about taking Tesla private at $420, the commission ordered him to step down as Tesla’s chairman but allowed him to continue as CEO. Musk continued to be Tesla’s largest shareholder, with approximately 21.7% of Tesla’s outstanding shares at that time.
If regulators had taken those punitive steps, Musk’s options for acquiring another public company like Twitter would be severely limited. Afterall, waging a proxy fight–one that starts with Musk taking a board seat and then gaining control by winning friends and influencing other board members who then vote him Ruler for Life–doesn’t seem to be his style. In fact, he quickly changed his mind about taking a Twitter board seat when it was offered.
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