Mike Ringler and Peter Jones are trading in their Skadden business cards for new Sullivan & Cromwell versions. The pair of tech dealmakers will join S&C’s Palo Alto office on the strength of blockbuster deals including representing Splunk in its $28 billion acquisition by Cisco and Ansys in its $35 billion acquisition by Synopsys. Let’s just not talk about their biggest deal… oh darn it, Reuters you had to lead with it!
“Skadden lawyers who guided Musk’s $44 bln Twitter deal join Sullivan & Cromwell”
By “guided,” we’re glossing over Musk trying to weasel out of buying the company only to be stymied because he’d waived due diligence protections and belatedly realized that he didn’t have a legal leg to stand on when Twitter rolled up demanding specific performance. Because he’d also explicitly conceded in the agreement that Twitter was entitled to specific performance.
On top of everything else, he also inherited Wachtell’s bills for clowning him on the deal.
Not that Ringler and Jones are to blame. It’s not like they were behind the idea to forfeit one of the most foundational buyer protections out there and thus giving up any right to complaint about excessive bots on a platform Musk claimed to be buying because of… excessive bots. Musk is the one who instructed his attorneys to make the deal “seller friendly.”
As the Trump defense team is learning in New York, sometimes the client is just an idiot.
Still, you’ve got to feel a little for these guys having the headline to their next move be the worst drafted deal they ever had to put their names on.
Skadden lawyers who guided Musk’s $44 bln Twitter deal join Sullivan & Cromwell [Reuters]
Earlier: Twitter Complaint Demonstrates That Every Lawyer, Everywhere, Always Is Smarter Than Elon Musk
Elon Musk Will Beat Twitter! WSJ Says It’s Obvious… Assuming You Change Every Single Fact And Law.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
