resigned in early April Tesla-Boss Elon Musk (51) to the short message service Twitter to want to buy for 44 billion US dollars. But the multi-billionaire canceled the deal in July, and Musk and the company have since sued each other. In the course of Twitter’s legal action against Musk, hundreds of his private text messages have now been published.
From this it can be seen that shortly after the planned acquisition became known, Musk’s smartphone was bombarded with text messages from billionaires, executives and bankers, such as the “Business Insider
“, which belongs to the Berlin Axel Springer publishing house, reports. The exchange was also lively with Mathias Döpfner (59), the CEO of the media group.
Döpfner had already contacted Musk via SMS at the end of March: “Why don’t you buy Twitter?” he wrote to Musk. It goes without saying that this takeover should also pay off for Döpfner. Therefore, according to the logs, he offered the entrepreneur to manage Twitter for him and to build a “true platform for free speech”. Musk found the idea “interesting”. Döpfner replied a short time later: “I’m serious. It can be done. It will be fun.”
Döpfner: “Twitter does not respect freedom of expression”
The plan is not particularly far-fetched. Springer has been a major player in the US media business since the takeovers of “Insider” and “Politico”. In addition, the company operates platform businesses such as the job portal “Stepstone” or the advertising platform Immonet.
A few days after the exchange, on April 4, Musk actually announced his entry into Twitter. The Springer boss also reports according to the MIRROR again to speak: “Congratulations on the Twitter investment. (…) Shall we discuss whether we should participate in the project?” According to the minutes, the two entrepreneurs arrange a meeting – it is unclear whether this actually took place.
In any case, on April 6, according to SPIEGEL, Döpfner sent the following message to Musk: “Twitter (…) does not respect freedom of expression. Musk should make Twitter “Censorship-FREE” by only blocking spam, calls for violence and illegal pornography, suggests the Springer boss. The billionaire no longer reacts to these text messages – at least not via smartphone. Neither the SPIEGEL nor the “BI” wanted to comment on the subject from the Springer publishing house.
Oracle boss Ellison wanted to invest one billion euros
Of course, the exchange with Döpfner only reflects a fraction of how people close to Musk tried to profit from the Twitter deal. According to the “BI” report, Oracle boss Larry Ellison, for example, supported the billionaire in his efforts to buy Twitter from the start. On March 27, Ellison Musk wrote, “I think we need a different Twitter.” About a month later, Musk asked the Oracle founder if he would help finance the Twitter acquisition, and Ellison offered $1 billion.
The founder of the FTX crypto platform, Sam Bankman-Fried, also contacted the billionaire. Bankman-Fried has long been interested in acquiring Twitter and, according to the minutes, has offered up to $15 billion to be a part of the deal. But Musk didn’t seem very interested in Bankman-Fried’s billions.
Salesforce founder Marc Benioff even proposed to Musk a new operating system for Twitter. And former Twitter boss Jack Dorsey also supported his project: “A new platform is necessary”. According to Musk, Dorsey was also convinced that Twitter should be delisted.
Of course, Musk also spoke to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal. Talks started out amicably at first, but after Musk’s famous April 9 tweet, “Is Twitter dying?” changed the mood.
The billionaire told Agrawal shortly thereafter that he would not join the board. It’s “a waste of time”. He would rather make an offer and take Twitter off the stock market. He declined any further attempts to talk to Twitter. “We can’t restructure Twitter just because I chat with Parag,” Musk wrote. “More drastic measures” are required.
As the minutes further show, Musk’s concerns about the upcoming deal grew from early May. The entrepreneur asked Morgan Stanley banker Michael Grimes to “slow down” the business. Then, on July 8, the richest man in the world canceled the takeover.