Date: August 6th, 2025 10:54 PM Author: shaky party of the first part circlehead
I thought of this thread concept while reading about how Exxon held up a merger between Chevron and Hess over a trillion dollar well because some lawyers found a clause saying that Exxon was entitled to right of first refusal. Even though Exxon had no intention of buying the well, they were able to fuck with their top rivals stock price for a year because of the argument that their unused right of first refusal represented distinct SHAREHOLDER VALUE that deserved to be realized at some point via arbitration. Spoiler: it wasn't.