The near future certainly can't be discussed, under strict SEC laws forbidding forward-looking statements. When one company buys another, both parties are strictly forbidden from ever discussing the negotiations. Intellectual property and trade secrets are carefully guarded. Employees are briefed and debriefed. I have come to call this manner of communicating the great Hall of Prisms.
Some journalists have what they call a bullshit detector.
I have what I call The Goosebump Meter. If I didn't get goosebumps hearing their story or experiencing it with them, then I threw my notes in the trash. For most people who look at David Filo, and for most people who look at Silicon Valley, they can't see past the dollar signs. It's like that except having this hypersensitivity to a billion dollars is the norm, which is to say the few people who can see beyond the flashing neon dollar signs are the odd ones. It is normal to go weird around money, to be made uncomfortable by it, to get supremely excited by it.