Musk’s Circle Tried To Speak Him Out Of Shopping for Twitter, Report Says

September 17, 2022

1

Topline

Buddies of the world’s wealthiest man Elon Musk tried to persuade him to not purchase Twitter as soon as they realized he was severe concerning the acquisition, sources informed Axios, as Musk tries to again out of his $44 billion social media firm on this planet’s most high-profile product return.

Elon Musk talks to reporters in Norway final month.

NTB/AFP through Getty Pictures

Key Information

Elon Musk’s billionaire buddy Reid Hoffman, who was an early PayPal worker alongside Musk and later co-founded LinkedIn, informed Axios his response to the Twitter deal was, “‘Oh my God, one other enormous downside” on Axios’ How It Occurred podcast.

Different individuals near Musk informed Axios they have been involved about how the acquisition would take away from his focus at SpaceX and Tesla, each of which Musk leads as CEO.

Hoffman informed Axios his enterprise agency Greylock Companions declined to participate in Twitter’s financing, however expressed optimism about Musk’s skill to steer at Twitter, citing his “skill to get by means of form of dying defying, the place you assume, ‘Oh my God, this is not gonna work,’ and to only hold going at it.”

Key Background

Musk disclosed April 4 he purchased a 9.2% stake in Twitter, which introduced later that month it accepted Musk’s $44 billion unsolicited provide to purchase the corporate. Musk is among the platform’s hottest and polarizing customers and a pointy critic of Twitter’s content material moderation insurance policies. The lust between the unlikely couple proved short-lived, as Musk tried to withdraw from the acquisition settlement in July, whereas Twitter sued Musk days later to push the deal by means of. Musk and Twitter will face off in a five-day trial in Delaware subsequent month.

Forbes Valuation

We estimate Musk is value $270.4 billion, a fortune about $120 billion better than the following largest. Hoffman is value a comparably meager $1.9 billion and has served on Microsoft’s board for the reason that firm acquired LinkedIn in 2016.