美国国家公共电台 NPR--Elon Musk changes his position and says he wants to buy Twitter after all

Elon Musk¹ changes his position and says he wants to buy Twitter after all

Transcript²

Elon Musk is proposing to proceed with his original $44 billion buyout of Twitter. The agreement would preempt³ a trial that had been scheduled to start in less than two weeks.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Elon Musk says he wants to buy Twitter after all. This after he spent the last five months trying to get out of a binding⁴ merger⁵ agreement. He also says he is willing to pay the same price he bid back in April, $44 billion. NPR's Raquel Maria Dillon asked, what's next?

RAQUEL MARIA DILLON, BYLINE⁶: The billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX sent a letter. It basically said he'll buy Twitter if the company calls off the lawsuit⁷ it filed against him over the deal. That case is scheduled for trial in less than two weeks. The discovery period has been contentious⁸, with few wins for Musk. Business law experts say Musk's arguments weren't all that strong in court. Here's Ann Lipton, law professor at Tulane.

ANN LIPTON: It was always a kind of kamikaze strategy for him to publicly attack the company, to accuse it of fraud, to accuse it, essentially⁹, of being on its last legs because if he ends up buying it, now he's stuck with a company that he's made worse and is less valuable.

DILLON: Note that Lipton says if 'cause Twitter still needs to sign off on a settlement, and there's no trust left between the two parties here. Twitter is likely to ask the court to ensure that Musk won't try any funny stuff just to delay the trial. The company says it intends to close for what the parties agreed to back in April, $54.20 a share. But why would Musk flip-flop like this?

ANDY WU: Despite the battles over the last few weeks, I think his core network of advisers¹⁰ and friends still want him to do the deal at whatever price. It's not their money, per se, although in some cases, it is.

DILLON: That was Harvard Business School strategy professor Andy Wu. He says Musk is motivated by his belief in free speech principles, and his rich Silicon¹¹ Valley friends can afford to invest in a struggling social media platform.

WU: I do think there is a broader social and political and ideological¹² fight at stake here. And so really, the pricing is sort of arbitrary. It's $1 billion here and there.

DILLON: Wu notes that Musk doesn't have much experience managing organizational change. But if the deal closes, he'll finally be responsible for its policies and profitability, and he'll make Twitter do his bidding.

Raquel Maria Dillon, NPR News, San Francisco.

1 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 preempt   

v.先发制人；先取

参考例句：

• We arrived early at the theatre so as to preempt the front seats.我们早早来到剧院，以便捷足先登占到前排座位。
• He pre-empted any decision to sack him.他预先阻止了所有解雇他的决定。

4 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

5 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

8 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

11 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

12 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。