You can make the argument that something was the reason he originally made the offer to buy Twitter, but that seems separate to me.
If I talk to friends about wanting to dye my hair pink as a joke, then they propose a bet making me do it if I lose, I lose and do it, then the reason my hair is pink is that I lost a bet, not whatever I originally suggested.
If I eat something I don’t like because there is nothing else in the fridge, the reason I’m eating it is that there is nothing else in the fridge, not whatever reason is there for it to be in the fridge in the first place (a visiting friend left it behind).
In all cases, the situation was created by some other event, and in Twitter’s case, there was an original reason he made the offer, but it did not end up being the reason he bought it, because he wouldn’t have bought it otherwise.
He spent billions of dollars to buy 9% of Twitter, was offered a board seat, it didn’t work out, then he made a formal offer. This apparently followed some drug soaked night at Larry Ellison’s, but it was never a joke. Maybe a Schrodinger’s joke.
You can make the argument that something was the reason he originally made the offer to buy Twitter, but that seems separate to me.
If I talk to friends about wanting to dye my hair pink as a joke, then they propose a bet making me do it if I lose, I lose and do it, then the reason my hair is pink is that I lost a bet, not whatever I originally suggested.
If I eat something I don’t like because there is nothing else in the fridge, the reason I’m eating it is that there is nothing else in the fridge, not whatever reason is there for it to be in the fridge in the first place (a visiting friend left it behind).
In all cases, the situation was created by some other event, and in Twitter’s case, there was an original reason he made the offer, but it did not end up being the reason he bought it, because he wouldn’t have bought it otherwise.
That’s how I see it.
He spent billions of dollars to buy 9% of Twitter, was offered a board seat, it didn’t work out, then he made a formal offer. This apparently followed some drug soaked night at Larry Ellison’s, but it was never a joke. Maybe a Schrodinger’s joke.
I never said it was a joke. He fully intended to buy Twitter, then decided he doesn’t want to buy it, but was forced to do it.