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Elon Musk recently dismissed reports that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried contributed around $100 million to his acquisition of Twitter.
The revelation from Twitter’s new owner came amid a Business Insider headline that claimed SBF had a $100 million stake in the popular social media platform.
Musk dismissed the claims, tweeting, “False.”
The story
The Business Insider story was an article write-up by Semafor, a recently launched news site.
It has been alleged that Elon Musk invited SBF to “roll” his Twitter shares into the company, which would become private under Musk’s ownership.
SBF previously reportedly purchased Twitter shares in anticipation of its acquisition.
Additionally, $43 million worth of Twitter stock was listed as one of FTX’s illiquid assets in a leaked sheet earlier this month.
SBF initially expressed a willingness to contribute more than $10 billion but did not invest any new money in the deal.
Instead, his pre-existing Twitter shares were initially injected into the company under Musk, according to unpublished text messages cited by Semafor.
Following Musk’s denials, Semafor updated the report to clarify that Sam Bankman-Fried did not invest in Twitter.
Twitter’s new owner also slammed the outlet, noting that SBF is a partisan – a fact the publication reveals in its coverage of the FTX crisis.
Read also: Andreessen Horowitz in support of Elon Musk
Musk and SBF
Twitter’s lawsuit against Elon Musk revealed private text messages, prompting him to complete his takeover bid.
According to reports, SBF and Musk were introduced in March by Oxford philosophy professor Will MacAskill.
MacAskill reportedly advised the creator of FTX on his principles of “effective altruism.”
At the time, SBF said he was happy to talk to Musk about Twitter or anything else.
He reiterated his offer in April when Musk announced his outright offer to buy Twitter.
SBF then sent Tesla’s CEO a Twitter thread outlining their vision for a decentralized Twitter.
SpaceX and Boring Company backer Michael Kives sent the same thread to Musk, saying it would be “cool to do this with Sam Bankman-Fried.”
Read also: Sam Bankman-Fried dismisses Argentina escape rumors
Musk tells all
Elon Musk recently revealed early interactions with the FTX founder set off alarm bells.
According to the owner of Twitter, SBF has triggered its “bs detector.”
Musk explained in a Twitter space, saying:
“I talked to him for about half an hour, and my b******* meter was red-lining. This dude is full of ****, that was my impression.”
Musk hinted at the time that he was looking for investors to contribute to the deal on Twitter.
“He does not have capital,” he added. “He will not come through, that was my prediction.”
Instead, FTX’s rival and eventual rescuer, Binance, invested $500 million in the acquisition of Musk.
Reference:
Elon Musk calls report that SBF invested $100M in Twitter ‘false’
