New information is being released showing that before the open mocking of then FTX owner Sam Bankman-Fried, Elon Musk was singing a different tune. The $100M dollar song allegedly began May 5th, 2022.
Just 2 weeks after the massive $44B deal was made to purchase Twitter, at just after midnight, Musk messaged Sam. He invited him to a privately held Twitter opportunity in return for injecting his $100M stake. Again, this comes to light after Elon made a statement denouncing their relationship saying “my bullshit meter was redlining.”
In a strange chain of events, these two men are now tied together. It all began when a previously unreported message was released and reviewed by Semafor. It seems that two men, whom both own companies in some level of crisis, are now technically business partners in the ever debt-heavy Twitter platform.
The message was first brought to light this summer in a court hearing where Elon was being sued by Twitter for being “cold-footed” at closing of the deal. That message read, “Sorry, who is sending this message?”
Within the message, however, were other undisclosed messages that bring to light information on arguably the two largest business stories in the financial and social media world.
What was more interesting was the follow-up response from Sam Bankman-Fried. Sam sent a very enthusiastic message praising the massive plans and improvements the Elon had laid out for his newly acquired platform. Sam also stated that considering the looming congressional hearing, he would be unable to invest anymore “new” money into the Twitter platform and would be laying low.
Sam’s next statement came expressing his interest in rolling roughly $100M worth of stock towards the deal. Apparently, this stock was acquired earlier this year. We know now Sam had intentions of buying Twitter before Elon stepped into the playing arena.
Sources state that this meeting of the minds was originally set about by Sam Bankman-Fried’s advisor. Elon was contacted weeks before he announced his interest in procuring Twitter, suggesting a “joint effort” between the two titans. He stated to Elon that it would be “easy” for Sam to commit a sum of up to $3 billion to the Twitter bid.
There are also reports from Musk’s banker that state Bankman-Fried had $5B, and up to $10B if needed. A few days after this exchange of messages, the two held a phone conversation that ended with Bankman-Fried deciding not to go forward with the deal.
Bankman-Fried however, did contribute his $100M in stock toward the now-private Twitter. An FTX balance sheet prepared after the acquisition closed on Oct. 28, and circulated to investors earlier this month, listed Twitter shares as an “illiquid” asset.
Elon publicly trashed his now-partner on a Twitter spaces event on November 12th. Elon stated, “Everyone was talking about him like he is walking on water and has a zillion dollars, and that was not my impression, there’s something wrong.”
It will be very interesting to see how this saga unfolds and how many more business partners are tied to Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX.
What are your thoughts on Elon and Sam being business partners in Twitter? Do you believe this will have an impact on Twitter and its users? We would love to hear from you and please don’t forget to sign up for news updates on this story as it will continue to unfold in the coming days to weeks.
