四四

To someone who worked in Hong Kong for a number of years, one of the most singular aspects of Musk’s TWTR takeover is the Four Seasons Landscaping level of obliviousness concerning the headline transaction details. If the Chinese press are not pointing this out that speaks volumes too.

What I am referring to, of course, is the headline purchase price for TWTR of, and I couldn’t believe this, $44 billion. There has been effulgent praise concerning Tesla’s China connections (and benefits) yet there has been absolutely no comment about this culturally haphazard purchase price.

There is a practical reason why Vancouver real estate is listed for $8.88 million and not $14 million. When local developers in Vancouver are puzzled as to why their ultra luxury unit 404 or their entire 14th and 24th floors are not selling well it speaks volumes as to management’s lack of understanding of their largest customer base–or at least the only ones willing to pay $2,000/sq foot (14 phonetically sounds like “must die”, a rather encouraging number, while 24 is apparently easily confused with “easy to die”). Savvy developers, such as for the office building in Hong Kong where I worked, will skip the 13th floor, any floor with a 4 and so forth (so that while the business card may claim to be above the 50th floor, in reality the physical office was really several floors down). I suppose New York luxury condo developers could kill two birds with one stone by putting their electrical and other works on floors with a four so as to ease sales while collecting considerable tax benefits. The only exception I encountered to this was the coveted license plate number “4” which was worth millions in Hong Kong. Then again, license plates with 888 and any combination of numbers considered “good” were bid up at public auction, to the government revenue’s considerable benefit.

If double happiness is a symbol in Chinese weddings, does double death for a deal price approach the Four Seasons Landscaping level of rolling-on-the-floor hilarity? How long before Chinese customers realise that their Model 3 is actually the 4th car model sold by TSLA (Roadster, Model S, Model X, Model 3)?