They were asked to print their code and typically this is done as part of diligence _before_ closing. This is not sop. It’s Elon making a show of things.
Edited: technical review isn’t code review.
I've done on paper reviews as well where it was just easier than getting access to the code repos. Sure it's like 50 lbs of paper but whatever. The nice thing with paper is you're basically sorting, you toss the interesting pages to one side and the uninteresting to the other.
Both of these were 20 person companies so I could review the 200-500kloc codebases in around 8 hours. It's not the most fun day :)
I feel like what you could do in 8 hours would be less "reviewing" and more "starting to get a basic sense of the codebase in the way a new hire would" but when you're the new CEO of the company maybe saying that doesn't sound cool enough?
To say you got everything you needed in 8 hours is disrespectful at best (even for way smaller code bases)
If I'm doing dilligence, I'm looking to see if there IS ops, deployment, etc. I'm checking the coverage of the IAC compared to the infra (can spot check in console and ioc). You can ask for an overview of metrics code and how thye monitor their infra (walk through a dashboard). Diligence is NOT being able to re-write the codebase, or even work in it. It's to make sure that what people are saying is happening, is there, is with high confidence, actually there. You're also looking for "oh shit". Such as no IAC, no tests, no monitoring.
My goal was to reduce the risks that the acquiring company felt were the biggest. I did that in 8 hours. Then we focused on specific risks previously identified in the review. That usually took the form of asking the selling company to explain, not for me to read more code. Usually the answers clarify the concerns, or admit them.
Of course, those things are absolutely vital, and must be long and tedious work, and I give you kudos for having these skills :-)
There is no way we're going to see a 70% cut and twitter survives. There is also no way an outside party cam figure out what the "unimportant" systems are in days or even weeks.
Realistically if you want to cut you start by reviewing everything and pretend you just want to understand. You place key people in key positions and help them build an understanding. After 3-6 months of observing maybe you can do some cutting.
I was just saying if I had to (because I was being asked to) cut 70% or even 10% immediately that's what I would do. But I'm also not sure I'd take that job.
I'm just enjoying the popcorn cause no one seems to know what's going on.
When you get to interesting code you then slow way down, maybe 10loc / minute.
Remember, for diligence, you're doing risk reduction, your job specifically is determine that there is in fact secret sauce, the product is there, not to understand it. In fact it's problematic if you 100% understand that secret sauce.
I've worked on due diligence from both sides of the table in the past and this is not how it works.