The Twitter Poison Pill Gets The Margin Call Treatment

 This is a superb parody of the movie "Margin Call" applied to Twitter and published on "Twitter". Indeed, watch the 10' clip and enjoy the update!

Jeremy Irons in Margin Call (2011).

 

The Best Explanation of Twitter's Poison Pill Approach Yet

There's a line in J.C. Chandor's excellent 2011 film Margin Call where Jeremy Irons' CEO character tells a subordinate to explain the company's dilemma simply to him: 

Maybe you could tell me what is going on. And please, speak as you might to a young child. Or a golden retriever. It wasn't brains that brought me here; I assure you that.

Twitter user Perpetua Hughes did just that for Twitter's poison pill defense against Elon Musk's takeover bid. Her thread riffs on the scene below, so if you haven't seen the movie, watch this scene first before reading her thread for maximum enjoyment.

"Thank you everyone for coming in at such an ungodly hour. The folks at Blackrock have informed me that we need the collective brain trust here urgently to deal with this Elon offer. So - why doesn’t someone tell me what they think is going on here?"

 "Over the last 5 years, Twitter has engaged in a process of what we used to call “denazification” - removal of any accounts pushing uncomfortable narratives; amplification of those voices committed to advancing what we like to call Real Change"

 "This has allowed us to get away with suppression of uncomfortable stories like the Hunter Biden laptop, for example, without raising any red flags. As a result, Twitter has built close working partnerships with legacy media outlets and intelligence agencies."

 "But Musk’s offer of $54.20 a share is so valuable that if Twitter were nothing more than what the average person thinks it is - a run-of-the-mill social media company - we would be required to sell to maximise value for our shareholders."

"So you’re telling me - Elon will buy Twitter, and remove the various censorship mechanisms we have in place. The music is about to stop, and we will be exposed for having run the greatest propaganda operation in the history of...capitalism."

 "Do you care to know why I’m in this chair? I’m here for one reason, and one reason alone. To ensure the narrative remains controlled. To ensure we keep making money while our populations remain distracted. To ensure the “normies” know what to think and when to think it."

 "Tell me, then - what are we to do with this...bid. > Poison pill. Dilute the value of the shares owned by everyday investors, sell more to those we can trust. Is that even possible?"

 "Yes. But who are we selling to? > The people we have always relied on to control the narrative that makes us money - Morgan Stanley, Saudi Arabia, Vanguard Group... If you do this, you will expose how corrupt the system is. No one will ever trust you, ever."

 "You think they’ll trust us if Musk gives them MORE access to information about how we operate? Give any Tom, Dick, or Harry access to a free marketplace of ideas? Let them speak openly about any issue, at any time? Are you aware of just how damaging that could be to all of us?"

 "Luckily, my friends at the SEC - or as Musk calls it, “the short selling enrichment commission” - have informed me they have a few surprises in store for Mr. Musk. By the time they’re through with him, he’ll be ready to send himself to Mars in one of those spaceships of his."