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Elon Musk’s brief attempt to take Tesla Inc. private following his infamous “funding secured” tweet in August 2018 has hung over the billionaire’s reputation – and his pursuit of Twitter Inc.
Now, as part of an ongoing shareholder litigation, a series of text conversations that Musk exchanged with Silicon Valley pals, investors, and the managing director of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund during that ordeal have surfaced. The texts offer a glimpse into Musk’s mind as he attempts to take a publicly traded firm private for the second time, nearly four years later.
An irate Musk discusses a Bloomberg News item in a text message exchange with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the head of the Saudi PIF, in which the fund was “thought to be in talks” to take Tesla private.
“This is a really weak statement that does not accurately reflect the conversation we had at Tesla. You stated that you were adamant about taking Tesla private and that you have wanted to do so since 2016 “According to a 300-page motion filed as part of the action late Friday, Musk wrote in a text message. “I’m sorry, but we won’t be able to collaborate.”
“It’s entirely up to you, Elon,” Al-Rumayyan says.
“You’re throwing me under the bus,” Musk writes.
“It takes two to tango,” explains Al-Rumayyan. “We haven’t received anything yet.”
The back-and-forth continues. Al-Rumayyan informs Musk that “we cannot approve something on which we do not have sufficient information,” and that he has been waiting for further financial information. Later in the conversation, Al-Rumayyan requests that Musk “please read the paper.”
“I read the piece,” Musk admits. “It’s a weak sauce that nonetheless makes me sound like a liar. It is riddled with ambiguity and bears no resemblance to the zeal you demonstrated in person.”
The talks with the Saudi PIF did not progress, so Musk pushed through with the plan with private equity company Silver Lake and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Musk abandoned the project a few weeks later when it became evident that many significant investors would not support it, shocking the financial world with a late Friday night blog post titled “Staying Public.”
Missing Out
Tesla has since been profitable, and it has opened plants in Shanghai, Berlin, and Austin, Texas. The firm has undeniably sparked the change to electric vehicles, and its $1 trillion valuation has astounded Wall Street and made Musk the world’s richest person.
The shareholders suing Musk in federal court, on the other hand, claim that Musk’s “indisputably false” August 2018 tweet and subsequent Twitter tweets cost them billions of dollars throughout Tesla’s stock price swings. Musk and his lawyers have insisted that the tweet to his millions of followers was “completely true.”
Musk’s lawyers have maintained that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund agreed to back his bid to take Tesla private. The text messages were included in a motion filed by Alex Spiro, Musk’s lead outside attorney.
The complaint includes extracts from Musk’s deposition with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which sued Musk for fraud. The government eventually settled with Musk and Tesla, with each paying $20 million and Musk stepping down as head of Tesla’s board for three years.
Twitter Discussions
Meanwhile, Musk surreptitiously bought a more than 9 percent interest in Twitter, becoming the business’s largest individual shareholder, before declining a board seat and launching an unsolicited $43 billion bid for the firm this month.
Musk met Sunday with Twitter executives after getting financing from banks such as Morgan Stanley, according to a person familiar with the subject, indicating that the firm is generally more willing to negotiating a sale than previously.
While Musk claims to have secured $46.5 billion in funding for his bid for the social media network, text conversations from 2018 show that the 50-year-old entrepreneur can alter his mind. And he doesn’t forget when he’s angry.
In re Tesla Inc. Securities Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, case number 18-CV-04865 (San Francisco).
