I am happy I am not negotiating this deal as well, as it is incredibly complicated.
Dude I have an MBA from the University of Chicago (#1 ranked MBA program in the world by the Economist and #1 in the US by US News & World Report), graduated with Honors and I took classes in Econ and Finance from 5 different Nobel Laureates. Where did you go? I categorically understand the difference between an acquisition and settlement. My main point is that a lot of us don't want a pocket full of judgement or a long earn out, but if that actually established a solid (less speculative) value for the company and therefore the stock price I could accept that......right now a person with a substantial stake (mine is 20,000,000 shares) has a hard time valuing their holdings because it could take a very long time to liquidate that stock without hammering the proceeds dramatically. I don't even include this position on my quarterly PFS reports that I provide to our lenders since it is so illiquid at any serious volume. I am sure you know what I am talking about, or do you?
Now, please be so kind as to provide me with your bona fides (education, technical experience, M&A or Corporate Formation experience, litigation experience etc.) so I can better understand why you are so positive that this will be the largest patent infringement payout in US history by a factor of 3x or more, and why your opinion is any better than mine. I am always happy to learn more, and I am NOT putting myself out there as an expert. To be honest, if you put all the deals I have negotiated together in my life they might add up to $1billion so, clearly you must have me there, or do you?. In what industry have you gained all of your wisdom and enjoyed your success? Are you summoning your vast experience as an IP lawsuit negotiator to insult me or do you just have a hunch that you think is infallible? Either one is perfectly fine, one is just a bit more ballsy than the other.
If you truly have the skills to jump this settlement into the $5+billion range you should insist on a seat at the table, I would be happy to get behind that. Maybe you have enough shares to demand a seat on the board, maybe a bunch of us that have significant holdings could pool our interests and get you installed on the board. Like I said before I would be thrilled with what you are expecting. I just can't see why you have such a problem with me having a lower expectation. My opinion means nothing to the people making the decisions. Tell you what, since you are certain enough to toss insults at me and question my IQ, education, and experience, I will make a bet with you right now. $100k says the final payout is less than $2.5 billion. I don't necessarily want it to be below that, my experience just tells me that is a number that can get both sides to sign off and take us off this decade long roller coaster.
Again, I hope you are right, I would be thrilled to pay you $100k for having this pegged much more optimistically than I. Just let me know and we can draw that bet up officially. If we get more than $2.5billion paid out by the end of 2025, I owe you $100k, if not you owe me. If you are serious I will set up an escrow account. This will be fun, and a lot more interesting.
