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Elon Musk cleared the air about a story that Sam Bankman-Fried donated about $100 million to his recent Twitter takeover.
The revelation came amid a Business Insider headline that claimed SBF owns a $100 million stake in the popular social media platform.
However, Musk denied the story’s allegations, tweeting a link and saying, “Fake.”
The story
The Business Insider’s story was based on an article from the recently launched news site Semafor.
The story claims that Elon Musk asked SBF to “roll” his Twitter holdings onto the platform.
Twitter was set to become private under his ownership.
SBF reportedly bought Twitter shares in anticipation of Musk’s company purchase.
Earlier this month, a leaked balance sheet listed $43 million in Twitter stock as one of FTX’s illiquid assets.
SBF initially agreed to contribute more than $10 billion but invested no 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Instead, his pre-existing Twitter shares were initially injected into the company under Musk based on unpublished text messages shared with Semafor.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 Sam Bankman-Fried did not invest in Twitter.
Twitter’s new owner also slammed the outlet, noting that SBF supports Semafor, a fact the publication shared in its coverage of FTX’s collapse.
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Musk and SBF
Twitter’s lawsuit against Elon Musk brought up private messages that finally 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 “effective altruism” principles.
SBF said that he was happy to talk to Musk on Twitter or other topics.
He made his offer again in April when Musk announced his outright offer to buy Twitter.
SBF also sent Tesla’s CEO a Twitter thread he made that outlined his vision for decentralizing Twitter.
Michael Kives, SpaceX and Boring Company backer, also sent the SBF thread to Musk, saying it would be “cool to do this with Sam Bankman-Fried.”
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Musk tells all
Elon Musk recently revealed that early interactions with the FTX founder set off alarm bells.
According to Musk, Sam Bankman-Fried activated his “BS detector.”
Musk gave more insight on Twitter Space:
“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 contribute to the Twitter acquisition.
“He does not have capital,” he added. “He will not come through, that was my prediction.”
Instead, Binance, FTX’s rival and savior, invested $500 million in the acquisition.
Reference:
Elon Musk calls report that SBF invested $100M in Twitter ‘false’
