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Comment by mcphage | Hacker News Reader

> He tried to "smartly" get off the deal but the other party was smarter.

Well, the other party sold their company to Elon Musk to run into the ground, so smarter isn't quite the word I'd use for them, either.

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They are investors and emotionally detached from the company. I don't think they care about what happens to the company after they hand it over.

They sold their company at a very good price, much higher than its actual worth. That’s hardly a dumb business decision. They will also have a good track record on management, given how much better twitter were under their control.

> They sold their company at a very good price, much higher than its actual worth.

Yeah, I get that, but in doing so destroyed a thing that lots of people found value in. So yeah, they made more money than the thing was worth, great business decision, but I'm not willing to award "this nice thing is worth more as scrap than it is on its own right now" as being called "smart".

If someone wanted to buy your house for three times its market value and their grand plan was to turn it into lumber, would the smart move be to decline?

Probably, yeah. For starters, my family likes our house, and we're not really looking to move right now. Like, I'd end up with more money (which is good!) but an angry wife (which is not!).

Depending on the people involved, a company can be much less personal.

As a followup to my previous comment—we've lived in this house for over 13 years, and own it outright. If we had lived here only a few years, and had no real equity in the house, that would probably change the equation considerably.

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