Latest / Beyond The Horizon / Mega Edition: Marc Rowan And Leon Black Outmaneuver Josh Harris To Keep Control At Apollo (11/6/26)

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Mega Edition: Marc Rowan And Leon Black Outmaneuver Josh Harris To Keep Control At Apollo (11/6/26) · Beyond The Horizon

0:01
Speaker 1: This morning, we're going to dive right back into the
0:04
Speaker 1: Leon Black topic. From the very beginning of this whole
0:09
Speaker 1: entire ordeal with Leon Black, I told you that inside
0:14
Speaker 1: of the boardroom, there was a major power struggle underway
0:19
Speaker 1: between Josh Smith and Leon Black. Well, today, in Cranes,
0:27
Speaker 1: New York, they're going into a bit of detail about
0:31
Speaker 1: what is going on behind the scenes. Now, you know me,
0:37
Speaker 1: I'm not one of these people that runs around talking about, oh,
0:40
Speaker 1: I have sources everywhere, because I don't. But when it
0:44
Speaker 1: comes to the financial world, and it comes to Wall Street,
0:48
Speaker 1: I happen to have a few former colleagues who I
0:50
Speaker 1: still keep in contact with, who have their ear to
0:53
Speaker 1: the ground, and who told me that this was coming,
0:57
Speaker 1: and I relayed that to you folks as well. There
1:00
Speaker 1: was no way that someone like Josh Smith was going
1:03
Speaker 1: to be sidelined by these guys and there wasn't going
1:07
Speaker 1: to be some sort of boardroom brouhaha kicked into gear.
1:14
Speaker 1: Because Smith isn't some sort of meek, go-quietly-into-the-night kind of cat, right?
1:19
Speaker 1: We're talking about sharks in the water. And all of
1:23
Speaker 1: these guys are alpha predators, right? I mean, when we
1:29
Speaker 1: talk about grey characters and no good guys, we're certainly
1:32
Speaker 1: talking about the financial world. But my former colleagues, friends
1:38
Speaker 1: of mine, acquaintances, said that there was serious issues going
1:43
Speaker 1: on at Apollo in that boardroom, and that there was
1:45
Speaker 1: a huge, huge power struggle going on behind the scenes,
1:49
Speaker 1: even if the investors and the employees said otherwise. Because
1:57
Speaker 1: they don't want that kind of struggle blasted all over
1:59
Speaker 1: the world, right? They don't want that publicized so their
2:03
Speaker 1: investors get shook. We're talking about billions and billions and
2:06
Speaker 1: billions of dollars in investments, folks. The last thing you
2:11
Speaker 1: want to do is look like you're inconsistent when it
2:13
Speaker 1: comes to management. So they tried to keep this under wraps.
2:17
Speaker 1: They tried to keep everything on the hush-hush, right? No way.
2:23
Speaker 1: When you have a company as big as Apollo... and
2:26
Speaker 1: they have such a market share, well, things get out, right?
2:30
Speaker 1: You can't keep the ship airtight. So there was rumors
2:35
Speaker 1: of this for several months now, and even longer, that
2:39
Speaker 1: Josh Smith was angling to get rid of Leon Black.
2:44
Speaker 1: And it looks like during the power struggle, even though
2:47
Speaker 1: Black has had to step back and resign his positions
2:50
Speaker 1: and stuff, it looks like Leon Black came out on
2:53
Speaker 1: top here, folks. Because Smith had to end up taking
2:58
Speaker 1: a back seat, right? So once again, Leon Black, even
3:03
Speaker 1: from behind the scenes, still seems to be pulling the strings.
3:11
Speaker 1: And this infighting, this battle within the boardroom, I honestly
3:16
Speaker 1: don't think it's going to end anytime soon. Josh Smith
3:20
Speaker 1: is not the pack it up and go home kind
3:23
Speaker 1: of guy, folks. So from what I'm hearing and from
3:29
Speaker 1: what we know as far as what's been reported publicly,
3:34
Speaker 1: it certainly looks like this whole entire Apollo global situation
3:39
Speaker 1: and the nuclear fallout that's hanging over Apollo and Leon
3:44
Speaker 1: Black isn't going anywhere anytime soon. So today we have
3:51
Speaker 1: an article from Cranes New York headlined, A brawl between
3:57
Speaker 1: billionaire founders at Apollo sidelines one of its own. So
4:02
Speaker 1: this article was originally published in Bloomberg. So it's being
4:11
Speaker 1: rerun here on Cranes. So originally published to Bloomberg, being
4:21
Speaker 1: rerun here on Cranes. Alright, so this article was authored
4:26
Speaker 1: by Sabrina Wilmer, Heather Pearlberg, and Sridhar Natarajan. And it
4:36
Speaker 1: originally appeared in Bloomberg. Three months after Josh Harris made
4:42
Speaker 1: his failed pitch to take Leon Black's crown atop a
4:46
Speaker 1: $ 455 billion investing juggernaut, Black's chosen heir is in charge.
4:52
Speaker 1: And Harris is on the outs. And we've been talking
4:58
Speaker 1: about this, right? How with a power struggle like this
5:01
Speaker 1: and the egos that we're dealing with, there was no
5:04
Speaker 1: way that Harris was just going to sit down and
5:07
Speaker 1: accept being shoved out. The youngest of the three, a
5:13
Speaker 1: guy that is very vibrant, very active, owns sports teams,
5:17
Speaker 1: shit like that, right? Super alpha male. There was no
5:20
Speaker 1: way he was going to just be pushed to the side.
5:23
Speaker 1: And there wasn't going to be any sort of clap
5:25
Speaker 1: back from him. And we talked about this months ago
5:30
Speaker 1: when all of this was first breaking. The behind-the-scenes drama
5:35
Speaker 1: between Apollo Global Management Incorporated's billionaire co-founders keeps brewing with
5:41
Speaker 1: ramifications for investors as the company reconfigures its governance this year. Yeah, look,
5:49
Speaker 1: this is certainly factual news. According to my sources and
5:52
Speaker 1: the people I've talked to and the people I know
5:54
Speaker 1: that are on the ground in the financial district, 100%
6:00
Speaker 1: there is a huge battle brewing. A huge battle brewing. Publicly,
6:08
Speaker 1: Harris has endorsed the decision to elevate co-founder Mark Rowan
6:12
Speaker 1: to chief executive officer. Privately, he's being sidelined even as
6:17
Speaker 1: he remains a key man in Apollo's flagship fund. Meaning
6:21
Speaker 1: investments could stall without him. And that is factual as well.
6:26
Speaker 1: Smith is a huge, huge part of the flagship fund.
6:32
Speaker 1: Meaning their biggest fund where a big majority of their
6:38
Speaker 1: money comes from. That's all Harris. And with this infighting,
6:43
Speaker 1: the people who are really going to suffer are going
6:45
Speaker 1: to be the investors eventually. Because how long is confidence
6:50
Speaker 1: going to stand at a level where Apollo's considered a juggernaut?
6:55
Speaker 1: If there's all this infighting, there's all of this instability,
6:59
Speaker 1: you still have Leon Black trying to pull the strings
7:02
Speaker 1: from the shadows, why would anyone want to invest billions
7:05
Speaker 1: of dollars with this company? People close to the company,
7:11
Speaker 1: speaking on the condition they not be identified... said Harris
7:15
Speaker 1: has relinquished day-to-day handling of operations. He's less involved in
7:20
Speaker 1: deal-making than before, with underlings generally seeking his sign-off for
7:24
Speaker 1: only the largest transactions. Outside Apollo, he's been shopping for
7:29
Speaker 1: a house in Florida to potentially serve as his primary residence,
7:33
Speaker 1: which would lower his tax bill if he starts to
7:35
Speaker 1: draw down the wealth he's amassed at the company. So
7:39
Speaker 1: the writing's on the wall, right? Certainly looks like Josh
7:42
Speaker 1: Smith is going to be making an exit. From Apollo Global.
7:47
Speaker 1: That's huge news, folks, in the financial world. And it'll
7:50
Speaker 1: send shockwaves. Again, Apollo Global has always been this three-headed
7:55
Speaker 1: monster of Rowan, Smith, and Black. And they all complemented
7:59
Speaker 1: each other well as far as business goes, right? But now,
8:04
Speaker 1: you see that starting to fracture. And you see, you know,
8:10
Speaker 1: people taking sides and, you know, factions being formed. And
8:16
Speaker 1: it's almost like what you would see in the Roman
8:18
Speaker 1: Senate back in the day, right? You had, you know,
8:21
Speaker 1: Mark Anthony, you had Pompey, you had Caesar. Wasn't going
8:27
Speaker 1: to work, right? You can't have all of those egos. Eventually,
8:30
Speaker 1: someone's going to have to come out on top. And
8:32
Speaker 1: if that means the proverbial knife fight in the boardroom,
8:37
Speaker 1: then so be it. That's what these people will engage in. Folks,
8:40
Speaker 1: we're talking about billions and billions of dollars. Those amount
8:48
Speaker 1: to stark changes for Harris, 56, who for three decades
8:51
Speaker 1: has been known for working marathon hours and making his
8:55
Speaker 1: presence known throughout the New York-based private equity firm, running
8:58
Speaker 1: operations and pressing employees on the details of their deals.
9:03
Speaker 1: And you could see that he's checked out, right? He
9:05
Speaker 1: goes from being involved in all of these decisions and
9:09
Speaker 1: deals being made by his employees in his division to
9:12
Speaker 1: taking a step back and letting his underlings take the wheel.
9:18
Speaker 1: And that's when you know somebody like this is checking out.
9:22
Speaker 1: Because people like this, remember, how many times do we
9:24
Speaker 1: talk about this part of it, right? People in power
9:27
Speaker 1: like this never cede power on their own. It has
9:29
Speaker 1: to be taken from them. And Smith, it certainly looks
9:34
Speaker 1: like he's mapping his exit. His decreased involvement has come
9:40
Speaker 1: with a sense of relief for some. When the topic
9:43
Speaker 1: arose recently, employees under Harris were heard humming their response...
9:47
Speaker 1: Ding dong, the witch is dead from the Wizard of Oz. Aw,
9:51
Speaker 1: isn't that cute? All of these stockbrokers have such a
9:55
Speaker 1: rough life. All of you investors and hedgies. Aw, your
9:58
Speaker 1: boss is mean to you. Shut up as you go
10:01
Speaker 1: and cash that $ 10 million check. Nobody cares, alright? Nobody cares.
10:08
Speaker 1: I certainly don't have any empathy for these people. They're
10:10
Speaker 1: being compensated quite fairly. Insiders privately predict Harris will formally
10:18
Speaker 1: take a more limited role or even leave in the
10:21
Speaker 1: coming year or so, devoting more time to outside business
10:24
Speaker 1: interests that include a stable of professional sports franchises. And
10:29
Speaker 1: we talked about this as well. Harris has all of
10:32
Speaker 1: these different options, right? He's a younger guy, 56 years old,
10:36
Speaker 1: still has his whole life ahead of him pretty much.
10:39
Speaker 1: Why even bother dealing with your idiot moron colleagues at
10:43
Speaker 1: Apollo when When you can just cash out and ride
10:45
Speaker 1: off into the sunset. And if I was Smith, that's
10:49
Speaker 1: what I would do. I would leave Apollo holding the bag.
10:52
Speaker 1: I'd cash out all of my assets. I'd move my
10:54
Speaker 1: happy ass to a place with no state income tax,
10:57
Speaker 1: like Florida. Or, might I suggest, the beautiful state of Nevada.
11:03
Speaker 1: And that would be a wrap. I'd be done with it.
11:06
Speaker 1: When you have that kind of money, you write your
11:08
Speaker 1: own story, folks. That's why it always cracks me up
11:12
Speaker 1: when you find these billionaires that are in these sorts
11:14
Speaker 1: of situations and they're whining about it. Bitch, you have
11:17
Speaker 1: enough money to build a rocket ship and leave the planet.
11:20
Speaker 1: You can leave whatever job you're at, whatever company you're at,
11:24
Speaker 1: and kick your feet up for the rest of your
11:25
Speaker 1: life with all the money you've already made. A spokesman
11:31
Speaker 1: for Harris declined to comment for this article, referring to
11:34
Speaker 1: a statement Harris issued in January when Apollo announced plans
11:37
Speaker 1: to eventually make Rowan, 58, CEO. Harris said he would
11:41
Speaker 1: help expand the search for investor returns, develop the company's platform,
11:46
Speaker 1: and continue working with limited partners and investors. We knew
11:51
Speaker 1: that was BS at the time. We knew that it
11:53
Speaker 1: was lip service, right? Harris just trying to make things
11:56
Speaker 1: smooth and not have the appearance of there being any
11:59
Speaker 1: sort of friction in the boardroom. But it never settled, right?
12:05
Speaker 1: It was never settled. a situation where you looked at
12:08
Speaker 1: it and you're like, oh yeah, he's just going to
12:10
Speaker 1: accept this. At least I didn't. I knew that Smith
12:15
Speaker 1: wasn't just going to sit back and accept being absolutely
12:18
Speaker 1: railroaded by these guys. Nudging Black. Many of the private
12:25
Speaker 1: equities world's most successful firms are in the midst of
12:28
Speaker 1: trying to pass power from founding CEOs to new teams.
12:32
Speaker 1: hoping not to alarm investors concerned about maintaining historic returns.
12:38
Speaker 1: It's a process that's proved fraught as executives' ambitions derail
12:43
Speaker 1: efforts to replicate the original chemistry. At Carlisle Group Incorporated,
12:48
Speaker 1: for example, an attempt to hand the reins to co-chiefs
12:52
Speaker 1: Kusong Lee and Glenn Youngkin ended with Lee taking sole
12:56
Speaker 1: control last year and Youngkin gone, eventually running for governor
13:00
Speaker 1: of Virginia. And that's what it all comes down to,
13:02
Speaker 1: right guys? Come on, let's be real. Ego. Ego, ego, ego,
13:06
Speaker 1: and clashes of personality. When you have alpha dogs like this,
13:10
Speaker 1: they don't want to take a secondary role. Nobody's rolling
13:13
Speaker 1: over and showing you their belly at this level of power.
13:16
Speaker 1: If you want to be in charge of the pack,
13:18
Speaker 1: you better take that power. And that's what we see here.
13:23
Speaker 1: Rowan and Black end around on Smith and pull the
13:28
Speaker 1: old okie-dokie on him. But at the famously bare-knuckled Apollo,
13:35
Speaker 1: the process was all the more rapid and tumultuous. Black,
13:39
Speaker 1: long synonymous with its public image, faced mounting scrutiny through
13:44
Speaker 1: 2020 over his private business dealings with Jeffrey Epstein, the
13:48
Speaker 1: notorious sex offender who killed himself, allegedly, in jail. In January,
13:55
Speaker 1: a border review found Black had paid $ 158 million. And
14:02
Speaker 1: we know that's not just it. We know that he's
14:06
Speaker 1: also facing his own allegations of sexual impropriety. Well, we're
14:12
Speaker 1: just going to forget about that. That doesn't add up.
14:17
Speaker 1: I mean, come on. I hate when they omit things
14:20
Speaker 1: from these articles. Lies of omission, folks, are still lies.
14:29
Speaker 1: Harris had spent years positioning himself becoming a more public
14:32
Speaker 1: face of the company at conferences and in the media,
14:35
Speaker 1: setting the stage to potentially become CEO. As the review
14:40
Speaker 1: of Black wrapped up, Harris privately expressed concern about the
14:44
Speaker 1: reputational toll the Epstein news could take on Apollo and
14:48
Speaker 1: advocated that Black step down as CEO. But Black surprised
14:52
Speaker 1: insiders in January by persuading Rowan to accept the post
14:56
Speaker 1: and mere months after Rowan had announced he was going
14:59
Speaker 1: on semi-sabbatical. And remember, when that all first broke, how
15:04
Speaker 1: funky we said it was. You have a guy that's
15:06
Speaker 1: basically retired in Rowan who gets the reins when you
15:11
Speaker 1: have an active participant already in Smith who is very hands-on,
15:19
Speaker 1: but you pass him up for the semi-retired, I mean, semi-retired, uh, Executive?
15:27
Speaker 1: Why not the young, vibrant man? So, again, you see
15:32
Speaker 1: Leon Black's fingerprints all over the blueprint of this. Rowan
15:39
Speaker 1: has since tightened his grip, taking over in March when Black, 69,
15:44
Speaker 1: sped up the handoff, citing health issues. Yeah, right, health issues.
15:48
Speaker 1: More like your own sexual assault charges or sexual allegations.
15:55
Speaker 1: And your relationship with Epstein, that's more like it. Your
15:58
Speaker 1: health issues, please. Reducing Harris' role is far from simple.
16:03
Speaker 1: He's listed as a key man alongside Black and Rowan
16:06
Speaker 1: for the record-setting $ 24. 7 billion fundraised in 2017. The loss
16:12
Speaker 1: of any two of them could potentially prevent the vehicle
16:16
Speaker 1: from making new investments until customers sign off. That status,
16:21
Speaker 1: insiders acknowledge... gives Harris leverage in deciding what role he
16:24
Speaker 1: continues to play at the company. 100%, right? That's his
16:29
Speaker 1: ace in the hole. He has that ace in the hole,
16:32
Speaker 1: knowing that the instability that it would cause for him
16:37
Speaker 1: and Black to leave is almost too much to bear. So,
16:43
Speaker 1: at the very least, they have to play ball with him.
16:48
Speaker 1: But on other fronts, he's losing ground. Harris is still
16:51
Speaker 1: a member of the executive committee to which the board
16:54
Speaker 1: has delegated certain authorities. In late January, Black announced plans
16:58
Speaker 1: to eliminate the panel. The company has said it will
17:01
Speaker 1: improve governance by reshaping the board where Harris has a
17:05
Speaker 1: seat so that two thirds of its members are independent.
17:10
Speaker 1: And I think that's a good thing, right? Diversify the board,
17:13
Speaker 1: bring in some independent folk. We don't need just the
17:16
Speaker 1: three top dogs there, right? Harris, Rowan and Black. making
17:20
Speaker 1: all those decisions? Not in a company like this. I mean,
17:25
Speaker 1: obviously it didn't work out for them too well. No oversight,
17:29
Speaker 1: running around like they run the world. Sure didn't work
17:32
Speaker 1: out so well for Black, did it?
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18:08
Speaker 1: While Harris still sits on meetings of the Private Equity
18:11
Speaker 1: Investment Committee and takes part in related discussions on strategy...
18:15
Speaker 1: Dealmakers are involving him less when arranging transactions, according to
18:19
Speaker 1: the people. Since handing off control of the firm's budget,
18:23
Speaker 1: his role in compensation decisions has diminished too, aside from
18:27
Speaker 1: weighing in on the most significant questions, the people said.
18:31
Speaker 1: So basically, they've cut Harris off at the legs, right?
18:35
Speaker 1: They're trying to just have him involved in the most
18:37
Speaker 1: important decisions, and they're not really keeping him in the loop.
18:41
Speaker 1: So what they're trying to do here, folks, is it's basically...
18:44
Speaker 1: A soft coup in the boardroom. They're trying to force
18:47
Speaker 1: him out, but do it quietly. Make it uncomfortable. Make
18:51
Speaker 1: it to a situation where he just feels like it's
18:53
Speaker 1: not even worth it anymore. But I think they're cutting
18:57
Speaker 1: off their nose despite their face here. And I think,
19:00
Speaker 1: once again, it's Leon Black's fingerprints all over this. He
19:03
Speaker 1: probably has a gripe with Smith now, right? How dare
19:06
Speaker 1: you come out and speak against me, Josh Smith? I'm
19:10
Speaker 1: Leon Black! You know what I mean? Probably all pissed
19:14
Speaker 1: off about that and has an axe to grind. So
19:20
Speaker 1: I would not be shocked for a minute if Leon
19:23
Speaker 1: Black's people were not sowing seeds of discontent. In recent months,
19:29
Speaker 1: Apollo took the step of updating his executive biography on
19:33
Speaker 1: its website, deleting a significant line. Harris today runs the
19:37
Speaker 1: day-to-day business of the firm. So again, the writing is
19:42
Speaker 1: on the wall. right? They're pretty much letting Harris know
19:46
Speaker 1: that they want him gone. But Harris, being the alpha...
19:50
Speaker 1: predator that he is as far as business goes, he's
19:53
Speaker 1: not going to take that standing down. What? The T-Rex
19:58
Speaker 1: cedes its hunting ground to another T-Rex or does it
20:01
Speaker 1: fight for it? Well, you better think and better expect
20:07
Speaker 1: that Smith is not going to go out meekly. House hunting.
20:13
Speaker 1: Harris graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in 1986,
20:18
Speaker 1: two years behind Rowan. They soon ended up working as
20:22
Speaker 1: dealmakers at Drexel Burnham Lambert. When the junk bond powerhouse
20:26
Speaker 1: collapsed in a scandal, Black brought the paralong to found
20:29
Speaker 1: Apollo with a few others in 1990. So they all
20:33
Speaker 1: came from, um... Drexel Burnham Lambert, which fell apart because
20:40
Speaker 1: of scandals and, you know, money laundering and all the
20:43
Speaker 1: other great, fantastic things we talk about on a regular basis.
20:47
Speaker 1: And he brought those people over to his new firm.
20:49
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, Apollo's all on the up and up, though.
20:51
Speaker 1: They didn't learn anything when they were at the heels
20:55
Speaker 1: over at Drexel. Nah, nothing. Over the decades, Harris played
21:00
Speaker 1: a hand in some of Apollo's most successful bets. In 2008,
21:05
Speaker 1: he led a $ 2 billion investment in failing Dutch chemicals maker,
21:09
Speaker 1: Leyendel Basel Industries, on which Apollo eventually reaped a windfall
21:13
Speaker 1: as the company was restructured. Look, there's no doubt Harris
21:17
Speaker 1: is a great businessman. No doubt about it. As far
21:21
Speaker 1: as being a good human being though, I highly doubt it.
21:24
Speaker 1: When it comes to all of these billionaires, the whole
21:26
Speaker 1: billionaire class seems to be disgusting in my opinion. And
21:29
Speaker 1: usually I'm not the kind of person that's just like,
21:32
Speaker 1: oh yeah, all these people are sick, but that group
21:36
Speaker 1: of people has to prove that they're not sick at
21:37
Speaker 1: this point. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index indicates his wealth is $ 6. 6 billion.
21:48
Speaker 1: Some of that is at Harris' family office, HRS Management,
21:52
Speaker 1: which has pumped money into health clubs and a Spanish
21:54
Speaker 1: airline and helped to manage Harris' holdings in sports teams.
21:59
Speaker 1: Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, set up with Blackstone Group's
22:02
Speaker 1: incorporated David Blitzer, owns stakes in the Philadelphia 76ers, New
22:08
Speaker 1: Jersey Devils, and English soccer club Crystal Palace. Yeah, Harris
22:13
Speaker 1: better spend some more time with the Devils because that
22:15
Speaker 1: team straight up sucks. Harris and his family, who live
22:21
Speaker 1: in New York, have been renting a home in South
22:23
Speaker 1: Florida since COVID-19 infections worsened in last year's second half.
22:27
Speaker 1: according to people familiar with the matter. He's been considering
22:31
Speaker 1: moving his primary residence there and viewing properties, the people said.
22:35
Speaker 1: Must be nice to have that kind of money, huh?
22:38
Speaker 1: Just run away from the pandemic like all the people
22:40
Speaker 1: in New York did. All of the rich people, the
22:42
Speaker 1: virtue-signaling people telling everybody else how to live. Remember, they
22:45
Speaker 1: all abandoned you. You know, the plebes, when COVID was breaking.
22:50
Speaker 1: Where'd they all go? To the Hamptons, to their compounds,
22:53
Speaker 1: bought up all the masks. Screw you, plebes! Remember that
22:58
Speaker 1: when they virtue signal and they get on their soapbox, folks.
23:05
Speaker 1: Apollo has since been considering additional offices in Miami and
23:08
Speaker 1: West Palm Beach. But for Harris, establishing residency in his
23:12
Speaker 1: state with no income tax would save a lot of
23:15
Speaker 1: money if he were to start unwinding his financial ties
23:19
Speaker 1: to Apollo. Folks, this is just heating up. And like
23:25
Speaker 1: I said earlier, I highly doubt that Smith is going
23:28
Speaker 1: anywhere without a fight. So Leon Black better bring a lunchbox,
23:34
Speaker 1: better have his big boy pants on, because the brouhaha
23:39
Speaker 1: and the Donnybrook that's starting in the boardroom at Apollo
23:44
Speaker 1: is just catching fire. If you'd like to contact me,
23:49
Speaker 1: you can do that at bobbycapucci at protonmail.com. That's B-O-B-B-Y-C-A-P-U-C-C-I
23:56
Speaker 1: at protonmail.com. You can also find me on Twitter at
24:01
Speaker 1: B-O-B-B-Y underscore C-A-P-U-C-C-I. All of the links that go with
24:07
Speaker 1: this episode can be found in the description box. And
24:11
Speaker 1: to those of you who have donated... What's up everyone
24:14
Speaker 1: and welcome back to the Epstein Chronicles. So there has
24:19
Speaker 1: been a huge, gigantic disturbance in the force because Elon
24:25
Speaker 1: Musk wants to buy Twitter. Well, Elon Musk isn't the
24:28
Speaker 1: only person who's involved in this fray now. And reports
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Speaker 1: are now coming out saying that Apollo Global, well, they
24:37
Speaker 1: might get involved as well. And whenever Apollo Global gets
24:41
Speaker 1: involved in something, that means Leon Black's involved as well. Now,
24:46
Speaker 1: I don't want to hear, oh, well, he's not on
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Speaker 1: the board anymore. You know how much stock this guy
24:49
Speaker 1: still has in the company? Miss me with all of that.
24:53
Speaker 1: We've talked about it a lot here on this podcast,
24:56
Speaker 1: how Leon Black is still, in my opinion anyway, the
25:01
Speaker 1: man over at Apollo. So when you hear about this,
25:05
Speaker 1: you just got to shake your head. How many more
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Speaker 1: scumbags can we have involved in trying to purchase Twitter?
25:11
Speaker 1: You got bin Talal right now from Saudi Arabia, who
25:14
Speaker 1: it looks like doesn't even own any shares anymore, getting
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Speaker 1: up there waxing poetic as if anyone listens to anything
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Speaker 1: he has to say, especially since 2017 when he was
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Speaker 1: arrested by MBS. Everything that dude says now might be
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Speaker 1: his mouth moving, but it's MBS's words coming out. So
25:34
Speaker 1: I really don't take anything Bin Talal has to say seriously,
25:37
Speaker 1: to be honest with you. But when you have people
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Speaker 1: like Apollo Global throwing their name in the hat and
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Speaker 1: them getting involved, well, you know, look, these are the
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Speaker 1: people that have the capital to make something like this
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Speaker 1: go down. As you all know, Apollo Global is one
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Speaker 1: of the most gigantic hedge funds. These guys are some
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Speaker 1: of the biggest power players in the business. And when
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Speaker 1: they start throwing their name into the ring here, it's
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Speaker 1: going to probably sway things one way or the other,
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Speaker 1: depending on who they back. So let's dive into this
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Speaker 1: article from the Daily Mail and let's see just what's
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Speaker 1: going on here. Headline. A New York-based private equity giant,
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Speaker 1: Apollo Global Management, whose ousted founder, Leon Black, allegedly, allegedly,
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Speaker 1: had business links to Jeffrey Epstein, holds talks over backing
26:31
Speaker 1: deal to buy Twitter. Breaking news, okay, there was no
26:34
Speaker 1: alleged ties, alright? He gave Jeffrey Epstein $ 158 million, he
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Speaker 1: said it himself. What do you mean, alleged? The author
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Speaker 1: of this article is James Gantt. A New York-based private
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Speaker 1: equity giant whose founder allegedly had links to Jeffrey Epstein
26:54
Speaker 1: has held talks over backing a deal to buy Twitter,
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Speaker 1: reports say. Apollo Global management bosses have discussed supporting an
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Speaker 1: offer to purchase the social media giant with equity or debt,
27:06
Speaker 1: insiders claim. The firm, whose ousted founder Leon Black allegedly
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Speaker 1: had work ties to Epstein, may firm up Elon Musk's
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Speaker 1: $ 43 million bid or help another buyer, they said. Work ties?
27:21
Speaker 1: That's all it was, was work ties, huh? Yeah, that's it.
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Speaker 1: They just had work ties. They were pals. They saw
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Speaker 1: each other at the employee dining room every once in
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Speaker 1: a while. Give me a break, okay? They were boys.
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Speaker 1: Locked in homies. $ 158 million for advice. Give me a break.
27:41
Speaker 1: It comes as the billionaire and wealthy firms circle Twitter
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Speaker 1: amid expectation it could be sold. The Tesla founder is
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Speaker 1: joined by private equity firm Tomabravo LP and Wall Street
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Speaker 1: heavyweights such as Morgan Stanley in reportedly showing an interest.
27:58
Speaker 1: So you know when all of these scumbag rulers of
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Speaker 1: the universe are getting involved, it's just laughable that people
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Speaker 1: are so upset about Elon Musk. Like, all these people
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Speaker 1: are billionaires. So one billionaire is different from the other?
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Speaker 1: Shouldn't you be mad that Bin Talal and the Kingdom
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Speaker 1: of Saudi Arabia has control over Twitter? That's not very comforting. Now,
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Speaker 1: as far as I'm concerned, I don't really care who
28:22
Speaker 1: owns Twitter. The same people who own it now can
28:24
Speaker 1: keep it. Elon Musk can buy it. Bin Talal can
28:28
Speaker 1: buy it. Whatever. Because Twitter's not a real place. And
28:32
Speaker 1: for me especially, I find it laughable to watch the
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Speaker 1: way people act about Twitter like it's this, you know,
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Speaker 1: the be-all end-all. It's just a place where adults go
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Speaker 1: and think it's okay to argue with strangers because there's
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Speaker 1: no repercussions. Oh, you're going to get banned. Go try
28:50
Speaker 1: that shit in the bar. Go and yap off in
28:52
Speaker 1: the bar to somebody the way these people yap off
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Speaker 1: to each other on Twitter and let's see how it
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Speaker 1: ends up. Sources told the Wall Street Journal bosses at
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Speaker 1: Apollo Global Management had been in talks about weighing into
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Speaker 1: the Twitter fiasco. But they were unsure of who the
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Speaker 1: private equity firm would back, whether they would help Musk
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Speaker 1: or support another backer. Good question. And I don't know.
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Speaker 1: But when this article came out a little bit ago,
29:22
Speaker 1: I did reach out to some people that I know
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Speaker 1: in the financial sector to see if they could guide us,
29:26
Speaker 1: see if they know a little bit better than we
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Speaker 1: do what the scuttlebutt might be. But when you're talking
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Speaker 1: about Apollo Global, they're going to go with whoever they
29:34
Speaker 1: think is going to increase the value the most. And
29:38
Speaker 1: my guess would be that way. have to be the
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Speaker 1: Elon Musk, right? Considering who he is and what he's
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Speaker 1: done with Tesla. So I don't know which way they're
29:48
Speaker 1: going to go as far as their backing. But whenever
29:51
Speaker 1: there's an opportunity like this, not only to increase their portfolio,
29:55
Speaker 1: but to kind of maybe control the narrative of conversations,
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Speaker 1: You know that people like this are salivating over that opportunity.
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Speaker 1: Apollo hit headlines in 2020 when one of the largest
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Speaker 1: public pension funds in the U.S. froze new investments amid
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Speaker 1: Black's alleged business links to Epstein. The Pennsylvania public school
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Speaker 1: employees' retirement system halted cooperations after reports emerged Black had
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Speaker 1: paid the financier, pedophile, $ 50 million since 2008. I mean...
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Speaker 1: Is the guy who wrote this article okay, Mr. Gant?
30:32
Speaker 1: Do you need some help on the Jeffrey Epstein case?
30:34
Speaker 1: I can direct you to the podcast, my friend, and
30:36
Speaker 1: you can get all the details and educate yourself. Try
30:39
Speaker 1: $ 158 million. What do you mean $ 50 million? The Pennsylvania
30:48
Speaker 1: Public School Employees Retirement System... Told FT at the time
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Speaker 1: its investment team had informed Apollo it would not consider
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Speaker 1: any new investments until further notice. And we talked about
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Speaker 1: that at the time. There were several public pensions that
31:05
Speaker 1: were parking their money with Apollo because, look, let's cut
31:10
Speaker 1: all the BS out, right? Let's get rid of the
31:12
Speaker 1: allegations with Epstein and all of that. These guys did
31:15
Speaker 1: make money grow. They know they know their business of
31:18
Speaker 1: how to grow money, right? No doubt about it. So
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Speaker 1: they had a lot of these public pensions were parked
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Speaker 1: in their hedge funds and they were growing them at
31:26
Speaker 1: a nice clip. But the the P.S.E.R.S. said, look, we've
31:31
Speaker 1: had enough. We can't be involved with this. We're the
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Speaker 1: public school system. Twitter on Monday filed its poison pill
31:40
Speaker 1: plan with the SEC as it cemented its attempt to
31:43
Speaker 1: block Musk from executing the $ 43 billion hostile takeover. So, look,
31:50
Speaker 1: when you're looking at it clinically, the offer that he
31:53
Speaker 1: made was more than fair. Especially considering Goldman had the stock,
32:00
Speaker 1: the futures only going to what, like $ 34, $ 35 a share?
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Speaker 1: And he's offering $ 54 and some change. If I own
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Speaker 1: shares of Twitter, I'd be pretty pissed, honestly. I'd want
32:10
Speaker 1: that sale to go through. Because again, look, I know
32:13
Speaker 1: there's all this crazy talk, and oh, who cares what
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Speaker 1: billionaire owns Twitter? Is that really another reason for everybody
32:20
Speaker 1: to fight? It's hilarious to watch these artificial wedge issues
32:24
Speaker 1: be introduced to the conversation, and then to watch the
32:27
Speaker 1: same people every single time, most of them, with those
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Speaker 1: dumbass blue check marks next to their name, spread the divisiveness. Yeah,
32:35
Speaker 1: let's go and just, you know, divide the people further
32:38
Speaker 1: with more stupid wedge issues. The document says in connection
32:47
Speaker 1: with the adoption of the rights agreement on April 15th, 2022,
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Speaker 1: the board approved a Certificate of Designation of Rights, Preferences
32:55
Speaker 1: and Privileges of Series A participating preferred stock, the Certificate
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Speaker 1: of Designation, setting forth the rights, powers and preferences of
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Speaker 1: the preferred stock. The certificate of designation was filed with
33:07
Speaker 1: the Secretary of State of the state of Delaware on
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Speaker 1: April 18th, 2022. The strategy announced on Friday triggers a
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Speaker 1: dilution of company shares if any shareholder builds up a
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Speaker 1: 15% stake without the board's approval. It's, you know what,
33:24
Speaker 1: this is so goofy and it's so counterproductive and it's
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Speaker 1: a waste of company assets. It's a waste of company
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Speaker 1: time and it's certainly a waste of the shareholders' time
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Speaker 1: and money. But it does prevent Twitter from accepting Musk's
33:42
Speaker 1: offer or entering negotiations with him or other potential buyers. Yet,
33:47
Speaker 1: it will stop the billionaire from putting pressure on the
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Speaker 1: board by buying up ever more shares in the open market.
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Speaker 1: Twitter said its poison pill plan is similar to other
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Speaker 1: plans adopted by publicly held companies in comparable circumstances. No,
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Speaker 1: it's not. Twitter's going to get the shit suit out
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Speaker 1: of them. Watch. They're going to be sued into oblivion
34:06
Speaker 1: over this. You can't poison pill this. Come on, man.
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Speaker 1: It said the rights plan will reduce the likelihood that
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Speaker 1: any entity, person, or group gains control of Twitter through
34:17
Speaker 1: open market accumulation without paying all shareholders an appropriate control premium.
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Speaker 1: It means if Musk or any other person or group
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Speaker 1: acquires at least 15% of Twitter's stock, the poison pill
34:30
Speaker 1: will be triggered. Every other shareholder aside from Musk would
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Speaker 1: be allowed to purchase new shares at half the market price,
34:38
Speaker 1: which stood at $ 45. 08 at the closing bell on Thursday.
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Speaker 1: And let's not kid ourselves. The only reason the stock
34:45
Speaker 1: is up is because of this conversation. This stock was
34:49
Speaker 1: stagnant for how long? Now it's up? So this whole, again,
34:54
Speaker 1: this whole conversation really is just ridiculous to me. And
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Speaker 1: the only reason I'm even talking about it right now
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Speaker 1: is because Leon Black's bitch ass is turning up in
35:04
Speaker 1: the conversation. If it wasn't for him, I don't care
35:07
Speaker 1: about this argument between people on Twitter and, oh, Elon Musk.
35:12
Speaker 1: And I look at, let me be very clear. I
35:15
Speaker 1: look at all these billionaires the same. None of them
35:18
Speaker 1: have my best interest at heart. The flood of half-priced
35:24
Speaker 1: shares would effectively dilute his ownership stake, making it massively
35:28
Speaker 1: more expensive for him to build up a controlling position.
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Speaker 1: Twitter said its board had voted unanimously in favor of
35:35
Speaker 1: the plan, which will remain in effect until April 14, 2023.
35:41
Speaker 1: Its board is led by chairman Brett Taylor, Twitter CEO
35:44
Speaker 1: Parag Agrawal, and co-founder Dorsey also hold board seats. Oh,
35:50
Speaker 1: isn't that a great group of guys? Aren't you just
35:52
Speaker 1: so much happier with Brett Taylor, Agrawal, and Dorsey controlling Twitter? Honestly,
35:57
Speaker 1: cut out the dumb partisan bullshit, and what would the
36:00
Speaker 1: difference really be? Rounding out the board are MasterCard executive
36:05
Speaker 1: Mimi Almiyahou, private equity investor Egon Durbin, karaoke tycoon Martha
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Speaker 1: Lane Fox, former Google executive Omid Kordestani, Stanford professor Fifi Lee,
36:18
Speaker 1: venture capitalist Patrick Pischett, First Dibs CEO David Rosenblatt, and
36:23
Speaker 1: former banker and diplomat Robert Zolik. Sure sounds like the
36:27
Speaker 1: kind of company and the kind of people who care
36:28
Speaker 1: about you, huh? You think these people sit around and
36:32
Speaker 1: care about the arguments you're having? None of these people care, okay?
36:36
Speaker 1: None of them. Not one of those people really give
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Speaker 1: a shit. Despite Twitter's latest move, Musk could still defy
36:45
Speaker 1: the board and take over in a proxy fight by
36:47
Speaker 1: voting out the current directors, though this strategy could take years.
36:52
Speaker 1: Musk previously responded to reports the board was mulling a
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Speaker 1: poison pill plan by tweeting, if the current Twitter board
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Speaker 1: takes action contrary to shareholder interests, they would be breaching
37:04
Speaker 1: their fiduciary duty. And that's for sure. He's not wrong
37:08
Speaker 1: about that. Their job is to safeguard the investment. If
37:12
Speaker 1: I make an investment in your company and there's a
37:14
Speaker 1: deal where I can have a huge come up on it,
37:17
Speaker 1: you better damn well at least listen to that offer.
37:22
Speaker 1: Don't just go running around and crying and moaning because
37:25
Speaker 1: of what reason? Because some other billionaire wants to buy
37:29
Speaker 1: the company? Oh. The liability they would thereby assume would
37:36
Speaker 1: be titanic in scale, he added, apparently referring to potential
37:40
Speaker 1: shareholder lawsuits. Musk sent shockwaves through the tech world on
37:44
Speaker 1: Thursday with an unsolicited bid to buy the company. He
37:48
Speaker 1: said the promotion of freedom of speech on Twitter as
37:51
Speaker 1: a key reason for what he called his best and
37:53
Speaker 1: final offer. I don't believe that for a minute either.
37:56
Speaker 1: Don't get it twisted. I'm not sitting here saying, oh,
37:58
Speaker 1: Elon Musk is a great guy. Another dude who got
38:00
Speaker 1: a picture with Glenn Maxwell. Another guy going to these
38:03
Speaker 1: billionaire brunches and shit. Not my people. Certainly nobody I'm
38:07
Speaker 1: sitting around and having an argument with my friends about.
38:12
Speaker 1: The world's richest person offered $ 54. 20 a share, which valued
38:17
Speaker 1: the social media firm at some $ 43 billion in a
38:21
Speaker 1: filing with the SEC on Thursday. Musk said at a
38:25
Speaker 1: conference hours later that he was not sure he would
38:27
Speaker 1: succeed and acknowledged a plan B, but refused to elaborate.
38:31
Speaker 1: But he hinted in a filing that a rejection would
38:34
Speaker 1: make him consider selling his shares. Musk last week disclosed
38:38
Speaker 1: a purchase of 73.5 million shares, or 9.2%, of Twitter's
38:44
Speaker 1: common stock, which sent its shares soaring more than 25%.
38:49
Speaker 1: And again, that's what you see with the increase here
38:51
Speaker 1: of the stock. It's because he bought it. So, as
38:54
Speaker 1: a shareholder, I would be furious right now that they're
38:57
Speaker 1: even arguing about this. Sell this shit and move on.
39:00
Speaker 1: Let me get paid. The board's rights plan kicks in
39:05
Speaker 1: if a buyer takes 15% or more of Twitter's outstanding
39:08
Speaker 1: common stock in a transaction and not approved by the board.
39:13
Speaker 1: Musk said he could technically afford the buyout while offering
39:16
Speaker 1: no information on financing. Well, he is the richest guy
39:19
Speaker 1: in the world. I'm sure he can do whatever the
39:21
Speaker 1: fuck he wants, right? If he wants to buy Twitter,
39:23
Speaker 1: I'm sure he'll figure out a way to do it.
39:26
Speaker 1: But he would likely need to borrow money or part
39:29
Speaker 1: with some of his mount of Tesla or SpaceX shares.
39:32
Speaker 1: Despite saying he wanted to take the company private, he
39:35
Speaker 1: said the firm would keep up to 2,000 investors, the
39:38
Speaker 1: maximum allowed. Some investors have already spoken out against the proposal,
39:43
Speaker 1: including businessman and Saudi prince Alawid bin Talal. God, I
39:48
Speaker 1: hate this guy. I'm sorry, folks. I don't mean to digress,
39:51
Speaker 1: but I really dislike bin Talal. He's a smug, arrogant
39:55
Speaker 1: son of a bitch. And when MBS knocked him off
39:59
Speaker 1: his perch, I wasn't sad about it. Now, don't get
40:02
Speaker 1: it twisted. Not a huge fan of MBS either. Another psychopath.
40:06
Speaker 1: But bin Talal? This dude has some nerve. You're really
40:10
Speaker 1: going to talk about your being in charge of Twitter
40:15
Speaker 1: or sitting on the boards better than insert other billionaire here? Yeah,
40:19
Speaker 1: because Saudi Arabia has such a great track record, Mr.
40:22
Speaker 1: Prince guy. Morningstar research analysts echoed this saying, while the
40:27
Speaker 1: board will take the Tesla CEO's offer into consideration, we
40:31
Speaker 1: believe the probability of Twitter accepting it is likely below 50%. Well,
40:37
Speaker 1: that's where somebody like Apollo Global will come in. They'll
40:40
Speaker 1: come in with a fuck ton of dough. They'll park
40:43
Speaker 1: their dough here. They'll get a fat share of it.
40:45
Speaker 1: And then your favorite place to go and argue with
40:48
Speaker 1: your friends, Twitter, that'll be run by one of Jeffrey
40:51
Speaker 1: Epstein's buddies. Won't that be nice? So again, me personally,
40:58
Speaker 1: I really don't care about this argument. Who owns Twitter
41:01
Speaker 1: is not affecting my life one way or the other.
41:04
Speaker 1: I have real problems that I have to deal with.
41:06
Speaker 1: Real issues at hand, folks. But the second you name
41:10
Speaker 1: someone like Leon Black as a possible investor, you better
41:13
Speaker 1: damn well believe me, my beard, and my big mouth
41:17
Speaker 1: will be there with a few things to say. All right, folks,
41:21
Speaker 1: that's going to do it for this update. As usual,
41:23
Speaker 1: some more is certainly on the way. And as you
41:26
Speaker 1: all have noticed by now, I'm guessing, I dropped the
41:29
Speaker 1: first episode of my new House of the Dragon podcast,
41:34
Speaker 1: and you can download that now. All right, folks, until
41:37
Speaker 1: later on, I will catch you later. And if you'd
41:40
Speaker 1: like to contact me, you can do that at bobbycapucci
41:43
Speaker 1: at protonmail.com. That's B-O-B-B-Y-C-A-P-U-C-C-I at protonmail.com. You can also find
41:51
Speaker 1: me on Twitter at B-O-B-B-Y underscore C-A-P-U-C-C-I. The link that
41:58
Speaker 1: we discussed can be found in the description box.