THINGS ARE HAPPENING (Ep. 2) - Follow The Money (April 22, 2022)
NETFLIX & Susan Rice | Twitter & Prince Alwaleed bin Talal | Liquidity Events | Sell-Offs | Fake News
If you’re reading this, chances are high that in the last week you’ve heard someone, somewhere weigh in on the headline of the moment “ELON MUSK BUYING TWITTER?!”. That’s not what this is going to be about.
No, my goal here is to share a few updates on big movements we’ve seen this week & in recent weeks on Wall Street with respect to ownership & management changes, liquidity events & sell offs, and we’ll analyze a few examples of the mainstream media [fake] news coverage of these events to try to get a better sense of what it all means.
(4.20.2022)
NETFLIX:
Netflix fell 36% on the back of a double digit drop after hours the day before (4.19.22)
Worst stock performance since 2004.
I got a kick out of the initial rationale behind the first loss of subscribers in a decade from Netflix … RUSSIA! Of course hahaha… Somehow or another, these people’s fingers always find ways to point & blame things on the Russians instead of taking ownership for their own actions/decisions…
FACEBOOK:
Finished the trading day down 7.77%
MEDIA COMPANIES / STREAMING SERVICES GET CRUSHED AS A WHOLE…
4.21.2022:
NETFLIX: it gets worse…
Get a load of the Netflix Daily chart looking back to 2016… All gains posted since 2018 have been WIPED OUT
Down 70% since the highs of $691 on 11/17/2021 … less than 6 months ago.
WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY, INC. (WBD):
WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY OWNS CNN…
On March 29, 2022 Warner Bros. Discovery launched a new streaming platform called “CNN+”
… Less than ONE MONTH later, the company announced it’s officially pulling the plug & shutting it down1
DISNEY
DISNEY hits a 17 month low…
ELON NOTABLES…
For literally years I have gone back & forth in my own head wondering '“is Elon a white hat? Black hat? Which team is this guy on? China? USA? Humanity (free speech advocate, calls out elite on human trafficking & talks back to phony Congresspeople like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie, others)? Transhumanists (Neurolink)?”
What I can say about Elon really quickly is that he is very clearly inserting himself/being inserted into some of the biggest/most public conversations right now, and forcing the censorship + free speech issues into the mainstream narrative/public conversation in ways that:
can’t just be ignored by the media;
expose the media as pro-censorship puppets trying to hang on as tight as possible to their powers of influencing the we way people think, regulating how people get information (& what information they receive), and controlling the public conversation on nearly all matters & social issues; and
I speculate could be like the string of yarn beginning to unravel to expose all sorts of murky, back room Wall Street corruption… (and/or maybe this is ‘hopium’ on my part, but at least I’m being honest!)
And while I still can’t tell you I know what’s for sure going on with this fella…
… ELON KNOWS A LOT MORE THAN HE’S LETTING ON.
No response from the Prince to either of Musk’s questions… but I presume these were more rhetorical in nature…
I cannot find anymore recent SEC filings than 2016 for Prince Alwaleed & the best I have been able to find via “news reports” indicated that the Prince’s/Kingdom’s ownership might have fallen to 4.9% strategically to fall below SEC beneficial ownership reporting requirements for owners of 5.00% +.
which is again besides the point since Musk took on a 9.2% ownership stake in Twitter 10 days prior — the result of which made Elon Musk the largest investor in the company.
The main point is… why isn’t all of this immediately/publicly available? And how / on what authority is Prince Alwaleed bin Talal able to respond as “one of the largest & long-term shareholders” … where is this reflected in public filings?
Unequivocally Saudi Arabia does not support any notion of journalistic freedom of speech, nor do they allow their citizen to gather in public places aka no demonstrations, protests … and this is the guy calling the shots from the Board of Directors of a US-based company? This is the guy that (might have) played a role in kicking the President of the United States of America off Twitter, while groups like ISIS & terror cells around the world were able to use & organize on this same platform without interruption or similar 'punishment’ from the company? Interesting.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s notion of a higher unquantifiable “Intrinsic Value” was entirely bogus from the moment he pressed ‘send’…
No matter how you slice it, Musk’s offer of $54.20 per share was anywhere from 20% to 54% (as Musk publicly referenced) HIGHER than the public markets were trading the stock at that time.
This is particularly relevant because it represents an undisputed BETTER DEAL/OFFER FOR SHAREHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY.
A company’s Board of Directors & “Controlling Stockholders” have ONE primary duty/responsibility to the shareholders of a company:
TO ACT IN THE BEST INTEREST OF SHAREHOLDERS
Now this is where I think things get particularly interesting … check out the following LEGAL PRECEDENT … when the Shareholders of none other than TESLA—were able to SUCCESSFULLY SUE ELON MUSK & TESLA’S BOARD for…
BREACHING THEIR FIDUCIARY DUTIES TO SHAREHOLDERS …
… in APPROVING TESLA’S DEAL TO ACQUIRE ‘SOLARCITY’
The ruling further found that it was “reasonably conceivable” for Plaintiffs to deem MUSK—even though not a controlling 50%+ owner of the company—a “Controlling Shareholder” exercising sufficient influence over the corporation.
FAST FORWARD TO APRIL 2022…
SWAP OUT:
“ELON” & “TESLA”
FOR…
“PRINCE ALWALEED BIN TALAL” & “TWITTER”
Now let’s jump back in time to Musk’s infamous 2018 “funding secured” tweet:
It seems relevant that the infamous “Tesla private @ $420/funding secured” tweet was supposedly with respect to NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE SAUDI ARABIAN SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUND … and now he’s going toe to toe with SAUDI ARABIAN PRINCE Alwaleed bin Talal…?!!? Interesting…
And this involved yet another lawsuit brought against Musk by the shareholders of Tesla too… Hmm. Lots of overlapping details.
In another tweet last week, Musk also signaled he was prepared to fight.
“If the current Twitter board takes actions contrary to shareholder interests, they would be breaching their fiduciary duty,” Musk tweeted. “The liability they would thereby assume would be titanic in scale.”2
Elon has court precedent on his side… from when THEY’VE gone after HIM.
Elon has the ‘Evidence’ to support any future shareholder lawsuits that would arise from breaches of fiduciary responsibilities to shareholders.
By the way: The Board REJECTED the takeover attempt & are using what’s called a “POISON PILL” to continue to thwart Musk’s attempts… I’m no expert on these, but here is what I’ve been able to learn…
Elon has the ‘court of public opinion’ seemingly on his side…
Elon has clearly stated his intentions in the public domain… and all of this sets the stage for some kind of interesting events to come I believe… If Twitter winds up finding a way to thwart the takeover (via poison pill most likely), Elon’s made it pretty clear with statements like:
“I would need to reconsider my position” [as a 9.2% owner of the company]
… that he wouldn’t intend on just hanging on to his 9.2% of the company since he doesn’t agree with management or the company in its current form… presumably leading to a potential major sell off of his shares, effectively tanking prices. We’ll see!
[UPDATING prior to Publish to include: Fri., 4.22.2022 - REUTERS story]
“Analysis-Musk tears up buyout playbook with $46.5 billion Twitter financing]
Good luck to Prince Alwaleed bin Talal in proving that “intrinsic value” with BANKERS saying things like:
“the San Francisco-based company did NOT produce ENOUGH CASH FLOW to justify it”
THE PATENTED ‘SMEAR’ & ‘HIT JOB’ MOVES:
Since this whole Hostile Takeover began, it has been reported in the press that there are apparently now federal regulators supposedly “looking into” Tesla (per the New York Post3)…
I just want to note that this is something we ROUTINELY see anytime someone starts to push against the powers that be & cramp on their schemes…
PATRICK BYRNE (7 SEC Investigations)
DONALD TRUMP’S “DIGITAL WORLD ACQUISITION4”
‘Crazy Elon’ Musk making major push in Twitter bid — but now he’s facing federal heat (NY Post)
Another couple of tactics I continue to see in no joke almost 100% of articles read & videos watched: the Media’s inclination to:
Portray Musk’s offer as a joke and/or reckless/irresponsible…
Make immature references to “420” being included in Musk’s price per share offer of $54.20 & going out of their way to suggest that this is all alluding to marijuana & a continuation of Elon’s tweet in 2018 about taking Tesla private at $420 with “funding secured’
“Yet another ‘420’ pot joke”
I won’t get into all of that here, but I do think it’s important to note how the media is trying to weaponize this against him—now—instead of actually discuss the issues at the core of this: freedom of speech & foreign ownership of American corporations & their influence on American way of life, rights, freedoms, etc.
As I noted above, it seems relevant that the infamous “Tesla private @ $420/funding secured” tweet was supposedly with respect to NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE SAUDI ARABIAN SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUND … and now he’s going toe to toe with SAUDI ARABIAN PRINCE Alwaleed bin Talal…?!!? Interesting…
THE PAID SHILLS… A few highlights.
Final Thoughts:
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal & “KINGDOM HOLDING COMPANY”:
“COUP”…
Suhail Rizvi & RIZVI TRAVERSE MANAGEMENT:
What the hell is is going on with these guys?
Insight: Little-known Hollywood investor poised to score with Twitter IPO | Reuters
Secretive investor Rizvi halves Twitter stake, buys Square stock | Reuters
SUSAN RICE: MEDIA TITAN
NETFLIX Board of Directors (2018 - 2020)
BIDEN Administration / OBAMA Administration / CLINTON Administration
MARRIED to (former) ABC NEWS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER…
(how weird that this is barely mentioned on her Wikipedia, right?!)
IT’S A WAR FOR YOUR MINDS, FRIENDS…
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/21/cnn-is-shutting-down-effective-april-30-sources-say.html
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/explainer-twitters-poison-pill-supposed-84151651
https://nypost.com/2022/04/16/elon-is-crazy-like-a-musk-but-hes-facing-federal-heat/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dwac-stock-trump-sec-finra-investigation/