This article is the most interesting I have seen on techcrunch in a while. It really is an extraordinary event, and Arrington has actually done a great job reporting on it.
"... This article is the most interesting I have seen on techcrunch in a while. It really is an extraordinary event, and Arrington has actually done a great job reporting on it. ..."
I think you nailed it there. Having some legal training has paid off with a nice summary of the situation?
"... So why did Cohen agree to vote for the transaction? Speculation abounds, but one aspect of the transaction is suspicious ... That mostly means Cohen, who is reportedly getting the lion’s share of the 30% of the company put aside for current employees. Cohen, who has recently had highly publicized financial troubles, may have simply been bought off ..."
But ... here we have an allegation that might have a simpler explanation. I found this article in 'Business Week' article, "BitTorrent's Bram Cohen Isn't Limited by Asperger's" ~ http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=399039 reading through his blog.
Don't let the lack of facts or another possible explanation get in the way of a good story.
I think he implied that Cohen's Asperger Syndrome allowed him to be manipulated into this position instead of simply being bought off. I think that if Cohen is high functioning enough to write a successful p2p standard and start his own company, he can understand what is going on in the board room. Either way something fishy is going on.
That doesn't seem plausible; people with Asperger's are harder to manipulate, not easier, especially when they're smarter than you are. Although Asperger's creates its share of frustrations, being unduly influenced by one's emotions and easily influenced by other people's opinions are not among them.
That said, it might be what the person who posted the BusinessWeek article was thinking about, if he's a fucking idiot with a neurotypical-centric attitude problem.
I don't know why you were downmodded--your first paragraph is spot-on. Your second paragraph/final sentence is a reasonable, if ill-phrased, speculation.
