According to a Business Insider story, cryptocurrency entrepreneur and CEO of FTX exchange Sam Bankman-Fried was interested in acquiring Twitter in March 2022.
Will MacAskill, a philosopher, and FTX CEO’s -close advisor texted Elon Musk in March, suggesting that they may work together to acquire the social network:
Journalists point to the private texts that were made public during the legal dispute between Musk and Twitter, which was winding down after the businessman halted the acquisition talks in July. The article was published on September 29.
“I’m not sure if this is what’s on your mind, but my collaborator Sam Bankman-Fried has for a while been potentially interested in purchasing it and then making it better for the world. If you want to talk with him about a possible joint effort in that direction.”
Musk responded by asking if Bankman-Fried had “massive sums of money,” to which MacAskill said that SBF was valued at $24 billion and prepared to spend $8 to $15 billion on the acquisition.
Later, in April, MacAskill spoke with Morgan Stanley’s Michael Grimes, head of global technology investment banking, about the financing.
The latter identified him as a “hyper genius and doer builder” and informed Musk that the cryptocurrency tycoon could contribute $5 billion to complete the transaction. Musk, though, displayed little enthusiasm and said he didn’t want to “have a lengthy blockchain debate” with SBF.
Since neither Bankman-Fried personally nor FTX was on a list of possible co-investors in the deal, which also included companies like Binance, Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity, and Sequoia Capital, it appears that these private conversations came to nothing. Musk reportedly texted Bankman-Fried one last time on May 5 and inquired, “Sorry, who is sending this message?”
In order to justify his decision to terminate the agreement, Musk charged Twitter with hiding the true number of fake/bot accounts, which in his estimation exceeds 5% of the social network management’s estimated monetizable daily active users (mDAUs).
The lawsuit filed by Twitter will have its initial hearing on October 17. The business plans to use legal means to compel Musk to complete the deal.
