Elon Musk clarified a story that Sam Bankman-Fried donated around $100 million for his Twitter acquisition over two weeks ago.
The revelation came amid a Business Insider headline claiming SBF has a $100 million stake in the popular social media platform.
Musk denied the story’s claims, replying to a link and calling the story “False.”
The story
Business Insider’s story was based on a write-up from the recently launched news site Semafor.
The story claims that Elon Musk encouraged SBF to “roll” his Twitter holdings on the platform.
Twitter would have become private under Musk’s ownership.
SBF reportedly bought Twitter shares in anticipation of Musk’s acquisition.
Earlier this month, a leaked balance sheet listed $43 million in Twitter stock as one of FTX’s illiquid assets.
Additionally, SBF initially agreed to contribute more than $10 billion.
However, he did not invest any new money in the deal.
Instead, his pre-existing Twitter shares were initially injected into the company under Musk based on unpublished text messages shared with Semafor.
Following Musk’s denials, Semafor updated the report to say that Sam Bankman-Fried has not invested in Twitter.
Twitter’s new owner has also criticized the outlet, noting that SBF supports Semafor, a fact the publication shared in its FTX collapse coverage.
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Musk and SBF
Twitter’s lawsuit against Elon Musk spawned private messages that ultimately prompted him to complete his takeover bid.
Oxford philosophy professor Will MacAskill reportedly introduced SBF and Musk earlier this year.
MacAskill reportedly advised Sam Bankman-Fried on his principles of “effective altruism.”
SBF said he was happy to talk to Musk on Twitter or anything else.
He reiterated his offer in April when Musk announced his outright offer to buy Twitter.
SBF also sent the Tesla CEO a Twitter thread he created that outlined his vision for Twitter moving towards decentralization.
SpaceX and Boring Company backer Michael Kives also sent the SBF thread to Musk, saying it would be “cool to do this with Sam Bankman-Fried.”
Read also: Sam Bankman-Fried Faces Downfall with FTX Collapse
Musk tells all
Elon Musk recently revealed that meeting with the FTX founder months earlier set off alarm bells.
According to Musk, Sam Bankman-Fried activated his “BS detector.”
Musk shared further information on 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 said he was looking for investors who could help with the Twitter acquisition.
“He does not have capital,” he added. “He will not come through, that was my prediction.”
Instead, it was Binance, FTX’s rival and savior, that invested $500 million in the acquisition.
Reference:
Elon Musk calls report that SBF invested $100M in Twitter ‘false’
