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1. The end of the line for Elon and Twitter
What a long strange trip it's been.
That might be the best way to sum up the Elon Musk-Twitter saga that has played out over the past six-plus months. Today marks 193 days since Musk first offered to buy Twitter on April 14.
It finally appears an end is in sight*, or at least the closing of a transaction. Earlier this month a judge ruled that the deal must be closed by October 28, which is this Friday, or a trial will be held.
Still, things are far from buttoned up. The main issue remains how Musk will come up with the $44 billion needed to actually buy Twitter. This isn't one of those buy-now-pay-later situations.
"It's pretty simple, the more investors that bail on this deal is the more money that Musk needs to contribute and therefore sell more Tesla stock," Ives wrote in a note.
Now, if this were a Musk biopic, this would make for a cool montage scene. They'd play "Money" by Pink Floyd and show Musk taking a bunch of meetings to secure enough cash just in time to run into a big boardroom and present all the suits with one of those comically large checks.
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But that probably won't happen. Or maybe it will? Who knows! The one thing I know is that anyone who claims to know how things will pan out is either stupid, a liar, or both.
3. The banker cuts are coming. A canary in the coal mine, perhaps? Deutsche Bank reportedly laid off more than 20 junior bankers in addition to some senior folks, according to the New York Post.
4. Speaking of Elon and Twitter, the banks helping to finance the deal have decided to hold on to that debt for the time being, The Wall Street Journal reports. The banks, which include Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, have opted to keep the loans on their balance sheets instead of selling them at a loss.
6. If you've ever thought about starting an OnlyFans, this article is for you. Four creators share their tips for how they made their first $1 million.
9. The number of billionaires pledging to give away most of their wealth has fallen to a record low. Only five billionaires — including the founders of Zynga, FTX and 23andme — have signed up to The Giving Pledge this year, down from 14 last year. Jeff Bezos is noticeably missing from the list, but his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott is on it.
10. If you'd like to stay relevant with the young people in your life, read this ranking of Taylor Swift's entire discography. Just please don't suggest any Jake Gyllenhaal movies to Swifties.
Correction: In Wednesday's newsletter we cited a figure from an Insider story that misstated the amount of warehouse space that Blackstone owns in the US. It is 480 million square feet, not 370 million.
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