Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Wednesday, Sep 03, 2025

Sam Bankman-Fried was reported to own a $100 million stake in Elon Musk's Twitter. Musk says that's a lie.

Sam Bankman-Fried was reported to own a $100 million stake in Elon Musk's Twitter. Musk says that's a lie.

Musk denied that Sam Bankman-Fried or FTX own shares of Twitter since the Tesla CEO took the company private, refuting a recent report from Semafor.
Elon Musk is denying that embattled FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried or FTX own shares of Twitter since the Tesla CEO took the company private, rejecting a recent report from Semafor.

On Tuesday, Semafor reported that the Tesla CEO had texted Bankman-Fried on May 5, inviting him to roll over his public Twitter shares into a stake in Musk's privately-held company, a few weeks after Musk offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion.

"As I said, neither I nor Twitter have taken any investment from SBF/FTX," Musk tweeted on Wednesday in response to Semafor and its editor-in-chief Ben Smith. "Your article is a lie."

"He may have owned shares in Twitter as a public company, but he certainly does not own shares in Twitter as a private company," Musk said in a separate tweet.

Semafor reported that Musk's text in May followed a message from Bankman-Fried in which he expressed his support for Musk's plans for Twitter and said he wouldn't be able to invest new money in Twitter. According to the report, the crypto founder added he had about $100 million in stock he could roll over into the deal.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that an FTX balance sheet dated November 10 listed Twitter shares as an "illiquid" asset.

Spokespeople for Twitter and FTX did not respond to a request for comment from Insider ahead of publication.

Musk initially responded to Insider's story on Semafor's report in a tweet, calling it "False." One person familiar with the deal also told Insider that it was "totally false" to say SBF had a stake in Twitter.

Musk also has pointed out that Bankman-Fried was an investor in Semafor, the media outlet that reported that Bankman-Fried had a stake in Twitter.

The site's editor-in-chief, Ben Smith, acknowledged the investment. "Like you and many others, we took an investment from him," Smith said in a response to Musk on Twitter. "We have covered him aggressively, and disclose it every time we write about him, including here."

In a later response to Musk on Twitter on Wednesday, Smith posted a screenshot of a text conversation he said was between Musk and Bankman-Fried: "Here's the text message from @elonmusk telling SBF he's 'welcome' to roll his public shares into Musk's twitter, as Liz reported," he said, referring to the Semafor reporter Liz Hoffman.


A regulatory filing from May of this year listed 18 investors that had committed to invest in Musk's private Twitter, including FTX rival Binance and investors like Sequoia and Fidelity. FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried weren't on the list.

Several texts between Musk and Bankman-Fried regarding the Twitter takeover were previously revealed in September during the pretrial discovery process for Twitter's lawsuit against Musk over his attempts to ditch his purchase of the social app.

Bankman-Fried's adviser, Will MacAskill, had reached out to Musk in March saying the FTX founder had considered buying Twitter himself and would be willing to contribute as much as $8 billion to $15 billion to Musk's purchase.

The two men connected over the phone, and Bankman-Fried later decided not to invest in the acquisition, Axios previously reported.

Since then, Musk has repeatedly dissed Bankman-Fried on Twitter. Earlier this month, Musk said on Twitter Spaces that his "bullshit meter was redlining" when he first met the FTX founder.


"Man, everyone including major investment banks — everyone was talking about him like he's walking on water and has a zillion dollars, and that was not my impression," Musk said. "That dude is just — there's something wrong, and he does not have capital, and he will not come through. That was my prediction."

Musk's made the comments shortly after news broke on that FTX was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to secure emergency funding. Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO and lost 94% of his net worth the same day, per Bloomberg.

Bankman-Fried isn't the only one to roll over his public shares. Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey transferred about $1 billion into the private company.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
×