Text messages between Elon Musk and several other high-profile personalities have been published in a court filing this week, giving a rare glimpse into how the rich and the famous communicate in private. A trove of the Tesla billionaire’s text messages was released as part of his legal battle against Twitter. Hundreds of conversations between Musk and people like Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, podcaster Joe Rogan, among others, unpack how the Twitter deal soured and more. Here are five revelations from the Elon Musk text dump:
Musk did not want to be in charge
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX feels he should not be the boss of anyone – or at least that’s what he told Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal in early April, according to TechCrunch.
“Frankly, I hate doing mgmt stuff. I kinda don’t think I should be the boss of anyone. But I love helping solve technical/product design problems,” Musk told Agrawal.
Musk asked Hoffman to invest in Twitter deal
Musk discussed his Twitter deal with acquaintances like LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman. According to Vox, Hoffman asked Musk how much he and his venture capitalist partners could throw into the deal.
“$2B?” Musk suggested. “Great. Probably doable -- let me see,” Hoffman replied.
This exchange occurred after Hoffman initially declined Musk’s request to take part in financing the Twitter deal, telling the billionaire: “It's way beyond my resources. I presume you are not interested in venture $.”
In the end, despite saying $2 billion was a “doable” sum, Hoffman did not take part in the deal.
Could Oprah have been on the board of Twitter?
Broadcast journalist Gayle King, a close friend of Oprah Winfrey, tried to get Musk to do a sit-down interview with her and talk about his Twitter deal.
On April 6, King wrote: "Have you missed me. Are you ready to do a proper sit down with me? so much to discuss! Especially with your Twitter play... what do I need to do???"
“The whole Twitter thing is getting blown out of proportion,” Musk replied at the time.
At a later point, he told King: “Maybe Oprah would be interested in joining the Twitter board if my bid succeeds.”
Joe Rogan "really" wanted the Twitter deal to go through
Musk announced his 9% stake in Twitter on April 4. On the same day, podcaster Joe Rogan texted him: “Are you going to liberate Twitter from the censorship happy mob?”
A few days later, on April 23, Rogan texted Musk, “I REALLY hope you get Twitter. If you do, we should throw one hell of a party.” Musk sent him a “100” emoji in response.
Elin Musk has appeared on Rogan’s podcast twice. In 2018, the SpaceX chief infamously smoked weed on his podcast.
Musk also reached out to Larry Ellison for financing Twitter deal
According to Business Insider, Musk asked Oracle founder Larry Ellison on April 20 if he wanted to take part in the deal.
“Yes, of course,” Ellison wrote, offering to put up “A billion… or whatever you recommend.”
Musk recommended $2 billion, the text exchange shows.
Musk saved Jack Dorsey’s number as…
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk exchanged several texts before he announced his intention of buying Twitter. In March, the two spoke about the future of Twitter.
“A new platform is needed. It can’t be a company. This is why I left,” Dorsey said.
But the fact that really caught the internet’s attention was how Musk saved Dorsey’s phone number: He used the nickname “jack jack” to save the Twitter founder’s number.
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