Eric Lipton

But instead of notifying the SEC and making that public disclosure, he continued to buy thousands and thousands of additional shares. And so effectively, he was able to buy those shares at a significantly discounted price, saving approximately $150 million as he accumulated shares of Twitter before he ultimately took over the whole company.

But instead of notifying the SEC and making that public disclosure, he continued to buy thousands and thousands of additional shares. And so effectively, he was able to buy those shares at a significantly discounted price, saving approximately $150 million as he accumulated shares of Twitter before he ultimately took over the whole company.

But instead of notifying the SEC and making that public disclosure, he continued to buy thousands and thousands of additional shares. And so effectively, he was able to buy those shares at a significantly discounted price, saving approximately $150 million as he accumulated shares of Twitter before he ultimately took over the whole company.

So they filed a lawsuit saying you failed to honor the federal law that requires you to disclose once you exceed 5%. And Musk and his lawyers were like, this is a technicality. You're just being annoying. This is being done for political purposes to try to punish us when this is a minor violation that you shouldn't even be going after us about.

So they filed a lawsuit saying you failed to honor the federal law that requires you to disclose once you exceed 5%. And Musk and his lawyers were like, this is a technicality. You're just being annoying. This is being done for political purposes to try to punish us when this is a minor violation that you shouldn't even be going after us about.

So they filed a lawsuit saying you failed to honor the federal law that requires you to disclose once you exceed 5%. And Musk and his lawyers were like, this is a technicality. You're just being annoying. This is being done for political purposes to try to punish us when this is a minor violation that you shouldn't even be going after us about.

And now the two of the members of the SEC that voted to go ahead with that litigation are now gone. Now, in this case, it was not an action by Trump. This was Gary Gensler, the chairman, who was a Democrat who resigned and a second Democrat who, for personal reasons, left the agency. But the net result is that the Republicans now have a majority on the SEC.

And now the two of the members of the SEC that voted to go ahead with that litigation are now gone. Now, in this case, it was not an action by Trump. This was Gary Gensler, the chairman, who was a Democrat who resigned and a second Democrat who, for personal reasons, left the agency. But the net result is that the Republicans now have a majority on the SEC.

And now the two of the members of the SEC that voted to go ahead with that litigation are now gone. Now, in this case, it was not an action by Trump. This was Gary Gensler, the chairman, who was a Democrat who resigned and a second Democrat who, for personal reasons, left the agency. But the net result is that the Republicans now have a majority on the SEC.

And so the likely outcome is that this will be settled at a very modest penalty or maybe even withdrawn as litigation.

And so the likely outcome is that this will be settled at a very modest penalty or maybe even withdrawn as litigation.

And so the likely outcome is that this will be settled at a very modest penalty or maybe even withdrawn as litigation.

Other investors would have likely bought Twitter stock at that point. That would have been a sign that Musk had the intention of potentially buying the company out. If you're going to accumulate that much stock, then that would have led other people to buy in thinking, oh, well, I better buy it now because Musk is going to be willing to pay a higher price to take the whole thing over.

Other investors would have likely bought Twitter stock at that point. That would have been a sign that Musk had the intention of potentially buying the company out. If you're going to accumulate that much stock, then that would have led other people to buy in thinking, oh, well, I better buy it now because Musk is going to be willing to pay a higher price to take the whole thing over.

Other investors would have likely bought Twitter stock at that point. That would have been a sign that Musk had the intention of potentially buying the company out. If you're going to accumulate that much stock, then that would have led other people to buy in thinking, oh, well, I better buy it now because Musk is going to be willing to pay a higher price to take the whole thing over.

And so he saved $150 million by getting the stock at a cheaper price during the period between when he should have filed a disclosure and when he actually did.

And so he saved $150 million by getting the stock at a cheaper price during the period between when he should have filed a disclosure and when he actually did.

And so he saved $150 million by getting the stock at a cheaper price during the period between when he should have filed a disclosure and when he actually did.

In the fall, we spent a month looking at all of Musk's operations with the federal government, all of his contracts, all the investigations. We had a database that was built and that allowed us to quickly know what the pending lawsuits, investigations, and contracts were.

In the fall, we spent a month looking at all of Musk's operations with the federal government, all of his contracts, all the investigations. We had a database that was built and that allowed us to quickly know what the pending lawsuits, investigations, and contracts were.