Elon Musk has fired back at Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud after he claimed to be a large Twitter shareholder and said he would “reject” the Tesla CEO’s offer to buy the company.
The prince said, in his position as “one of the largest” shareholders of Twitter, he would reject Musk’s $43 billion offer to buy the social media platform.
In a post on Twitter, Alwaleed bin Talal said: “I don’t believe that the proposed offer by @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of @Twitter given its growth prospects.
“Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, @Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer.”
Musk shot back with a brutal comeback: “Interesting.
“Just two questions, if I may.
“How much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly & indirectly?
“What are the Kingdom’s views on journalistic freedom of speech?”
Interesting. Just two questions, if I may.
How much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly & indirectly?
What are the Kingdom’s views on journalistic freedom of speech?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2022
However, as many pointed out, the prince is not listed as a major shareholder in Twitter, so it’s unclear how much, if any, of the company he actually owns.
Mike Cernovich weighed in on the claims by bringing up a good question we should be asking: “Why is Saudi Arabia so obsessed with blocking the deal, and why is the regime media covering this up?”
Musk said: “Good question.”
Musk also warned the board against trying to torpedo the offer.
A report from the Wall Street Journal said the board was discussing using a poison pill to block Musk.
Cameron Winklevoss said:
“Twitter is considering a poison pill to thwart @elonmusk’s offer.
“They would rather self-immolate than give up their censorship programs.
“This shows you how deeply committed they are to Orwellian control of the narratives and global discourse. Scary.”
Musk responded: “If the current Twitter board takes actions contrary to shareholder interests, they would be breaching their fiduciary duty.
“The liability they would thereby assume would be titanic in scale.
“It would be utterly indefensible not to put this offer to a shareholder vote.
“They own the company, not the board of directors.
“Will endeavor to keep as many shareholders in privatized Twitter as allowed by law
Musk said at the TED Conference that he wants to buy Twitter to protect “the future of civilization” and doesn’t “care about economics at all.”
“This is not about money,” Musk said.
“My strong intuitive sense is having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is important to the future of civilization.
“The civilizational risk is decreased the more we can increase the trust of Twitter as a public platform.
“Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square, so it’s really important that people have both the reality and perception that they are able to speak freely, in the bounds of the law.
“Having a black-box algorithm that promotes some things and demotes others is really dangerous,” he said of his plans to make it public if he gets control.
“A good sign as to whether there is free speech is when someone you don’t like, is allowed to say something you don’t like.
“If that is the case, then you have free speech,” he said.
“Twitter should match the laws of the country, and in my view, there’s an obligation to do that.
“Going beyond that.. tweets mysteriously promoted and demoted.. this can be quite dangerous,” he said.
“I don’t care about the economics at all,” he said.
“I have sufficient assets,” Musk added.
“I can do it if possible.”
If the current Twitter board takes actions contrary to shareholder interests, they would be breaching their fiduciary duty.
The liability they would thereby assume would be titanic in scale.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2022
Elon explaining his Twitter offer on TED Talk Live #tesla #elonmusk pic.twitter.com/fbKHOVXa0Z
— Tesla Nakamoto (@TeslaNakamoto) April 14, 2022
