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Yep, Elon Musk was winging it

Almost a week after the Tesla C.E.O. tweeted that he might take the company private, with “funding secured,” he has shown his hand. In it: several past discussions with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, and a meeting this year that convinced him the Saudis would back a bid to delist Tesla.

Except, according to the NYT, the Saudi fund never did anything to prepare for a deal like that. And Mr. Musk’s tweet blindsided many of the people who should have known about the plan — including Tesla’s board.

So far, only one thing is becoming clear: Mr. Musk’s definition of “secured” differs from everyone else’s. Some of the questions that remain:

■ How would Mr. Musk handle a national security review of a Saudi deal?

■ What will the S.E.C. do about his tweet now?

■ Mr. Musk’s blog post declares that he was tweeting only on his own behalf, as a potential bidder for Tesla. Is that enough to shield the company from legal trouble?

Mr. Musk says he’s moving forward, and has named Goldman Sachs and the investment firm Silver Lake as advisers. Whether shareholders remain interested is another matter: Shares in Tesla closed up only slightly after the frenetic disclosures.

Plus: My column this morning asks the question: “Is Twitter the right forum for public company executives to disseminate market-moving information in the first place?” He posits that the S.E.C. and boards shouldn’t let C.E.O.s tweet out corporate news.

Turkey takes a breath. Should you?

The Turkish lira rose around 5 percent overnight, after authorities unveiled measures to halt its slide. Opinion is split on how big an impact Turkey’s troubles will have on the rest of the world.

Tensions between Turkey and the U.S. look likely to keep rising. President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an of Turkey has responded to President Trump’s sanctions move last week with a promise to boycott American electronics. Given his country’s shrinking purchasing power, the direct impact of that might not be great, but the symbolism is striking.

The FT’s Colby Smith argues that fears of contagion may be overblown. Turkey is too small a part of the global economy to have much of an effect, he says, except perhaps on a few European banks.

The WaPo’s David J. Lynch and Kareem Fahim disagree, on the grounds that Turkey is just one of several countries with a common problem: They borrowed heavily when the dollar was cheap. Now that it’s strengthened, they “face soaring debt payments they may no longer be able to make.”

Virtual currencies are crashing, too

The cryptocurrency Ether tumbled by as much as 17 percent on Monday, to as low as $285, the first time it’s been below $300 since November. Bitcoin fell 6.2 percent, to just under $5,900. Bloomberg notes that the problem is widespread:

All but one of the 100 biggest cryptocurrencies tracked by Coinmarketcap.com recorded declines over the past 24 hours. The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies dropped to $190 billion, from a peak of around $835 billion in January.

What happened? For once, it looks like a problem with Ether, not Bitcoin. Many start-ups pursuing I.C.O.’s used Ether, which inflated its value. Now, Bloomberg notes, many of those start-ups are cashing out — which has the opposite effect.

Crypto bonus: A rap on the subject from the billionaire and Bitcoin lover Tim Draper.

Icahn drops a deal fight

It’s rare for Carl Icahn to back down from a shareholder activism campaign. But that’s what he’s done over Cigna’s $52 billion deal to buy Express Scripts.

What stopped him, he said in a short statement, was that two influential proxy advisers backed the deal, making investor support for his side hard to gather.

The WSJ also points out that Mr. Icahn may have moved too late. By the time he made his

Shareholders are set to vote on the union on Aug. 24, and one big hurdle remains: approval from antitrust regulators.

Why women call the shots in Malaysian banking

In most countries, men dominate finance. An exception is Malaysia, where women run several homegrown investment banks.

One reason? Government support. From Bloomberg’s interview with Kong Sooi Lin of the Malaysian bank CIMB:

They have been rooting for women to come into the workforce, targeting 30 percent representation on corporate boards. So we are lucky in a sense that we are in Malaysia. When your country has this view on gender, your bosses also support women. And we’ve come up with policies that encourage women to stay in the workforce. For our new building, we made sure every floor had a nursing room.

Trump bans Chinese hardware for government use

The president has signed a law banning his government or its contractorsfrom using many devices that rely on technology from the Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE.

Huwaei has called the ban “ineffective, misguided and unconstitutional,” but it’s less severe than some lawmakers had demanded: Components from the companies can be used if they don’t transmit or view data. It comes in the wake of Mr. Trump lifting a ban on U.S. companies selling to ZTE.

Revolving door

David Wells is stepping down as Netflix’s C.F.O.

Jud Linville is stepping down as the head of Citigroup’s credit card unit.

Jonathan Piazza, a senior health care banker, is leaving Barclays for Goldman Sachs.

The speed read

Deals

■ The VF Corporation will spin out its denim brands, including Wrangler and Lee. (NYT)

■ The story of Symphony, the bank-built instant messaging platform meant to displace Bloomberg terminals. (Business Insider)

■ KKR is said to be preparing an I.P.O. of most of its Indian operations. (FT)

Politics and policy

■ The F.B.I. fired Peter Strzok, an agent who played a leading role in the Russia investigation until his anti-Trump texts were uncovered. (NYT)

■ The son of Representative Bob Goodlatte, the Republican head of the House Judiciary Committee, is calling for his father’s defeat in November. (@rsg)

■ Saudi Arabia’s feud with Canada is an effort by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to save face with his people, according to a think-tank official. (NYT Op-Ed)

Trade

■ U.S. tariffs on imported metals are said to have collected about $1.4 billion so far. (CNBC)

■ How China and America could both win the trade war. (WSJ)

■ Is President Trump’s next play calling out China for currency manipulation? (CNBC)

Tech

■ How banks and retailers are tracking how you type, swipe and tap. (NYT)

■ A U.S. appeals court ruled that the F.C.C. can’t kill a broadband subsidy for tribal areas. (Ars Technica)

■ Big Tech wants to overhaul how medical data gets shared. (CNBC)

■ Social media policies make removing conspiracy theories from the web very hard, the parent of a Sandy Hook victim has found. (NYT)

Best of the rest

■ Bayer shares tumbled after a costly judgment against Monsanto over its weedkiller. (FT)

■ China’s economy continues to slow. (Reuters)

■ Soaring broadcast revenues have made soccer clubs a savvy investment. (FT)

■ The hedge-fund mogul Greg Lippmann is in trouble in the Hamptons — over a fence. (New York Post)

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