• TWeaK@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Twitter was profitable before Musk took over.

    The purchase itself saddled Twitter with $13 billion in debt. Musk paid $26bn, other investors (including the Saudi prince) together paid $5bn, and the remaining $13bn was a loan Twitter took out to buy itself on their behalf.

    The new owners only paid tax on the $31bn they paid, not the $44bn that was paid to shareholders. (Here’s something I’m not sure about: Musk was one of the largest shareholders. Is the $44bn the total value of all shares - does that include Musk’s shares? Did he basically buy shares from himself?)

    The interest on that $13bn was comparible to Twitter’s revenue, before Musk started fucking around. Twitter could not afford that debt.

    The buyout itself was what killed Twitter. Everything since then has been nothing but a clown show to distract from the fact that was the original intention.

    • P03 Locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      the remaining $13bn was a loan Twitter took out to buy itself on their behalf.

      That’s truly some Hollywood-accounting-style bullshit. I couldn’t even imagine the paradoxical mathematics it took to make that happen.

      It would be like me paying you to buy a candy bar from me.

    • narnach@feddit.nl
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      1 year ago

      Wait, that sounds like a leveraged buyout. I overlooked that detail in the news. It changes everything.

      I know that some investment firms use leveraged buyouts to drain every bit of money from a company before they chop it up, sell the good bits and let the rest go bankrupt due to the massive debts left in the carcass of the old company. It’s so scummy I wonder why it’s not illegal.