A fiery Elon Musk pushed back on published reports that disgraced FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried owns Twitter shares.
In a series of tweets Wednesday afternoon, the billionaire called out Semafor for its “fake news” report that alleged Bankman-Fried rolled his $100 million holdings of Twitter, when it was public, into private shares, in accordance with Fox News.
“All public holders of Twitter were allowed to roll their stock into Twitter as a non-public company, but he didn’t accomplish that,” Twitter’s latest boss tweeted. “Your reporting made it falsely sound like he did, when the truth is he owns 0%.”
Semafor — which launched last month with Bankman-Fried as one among the startup’s primary investors — said the fallen crypto king owned a large chunk of Twitter, in accordance with an FTX balance sheet prepared after Musk accomplished his takeover on Oct. 28 after which circulated to investors.
“SBF/FTX don’t own shares in Twitter,” Musk said, referring to Bankman-Fried’s better-known moniker.
Semafor’s Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith defended his outlet’s reporting and produced the alleged private exchange between Musk and Bankman-Fried, where Musk seems to encourage the FTX founder to roll his shares.
Musk again debunked the report and challenged Semafor’s independence in a later tweet.
“Semafor is owned by SBF. It is a massive conflict of interest in your reporting.”
Musk also noted that Bankman-Fried invested in Vox and The Intercept.
“If SBF was pretty much as good at running a crypto exchange as he was at bribing media, FTX would still be solvent!” jabbed Musk.
Renowned tech reporter Kara Swisher joined the fray and sided with Semafor.
“After all Elon took the $ after which dunked on SBF, since it is all a game that you just all aren’t alleged to see,” she tweeted
Musk responded, “There was a time if you cared in regards to the truth. That’s long gone.”
Musk also discredited the same claim about Twitter’s ties to Bankman-Fried that was published by Business Insider.
“Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly owns a $100 million stake in Elon Musk’s Twitter,” a news headline from the outlet read.
To which Musk replied: “[Business Insider] will not be an actual publication.”
Fox News contributed reporting
A fiery Elon Musk pushed back on published reports that disgraced FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried owns Twitter shares.
In a series of tweets Wednesday afternoon, the billionaire called out Semafor for its “fake news” report that alleged Bankman-Fried rolled his $100 million holdings of Twitter, when it was public, into private shares, in accordance with Fox News.
“All public holders of Twitter were allowed to roll their stock into Twitter as a non-public company, but he didn’t accomplish that,” Twitter’s latest boss tweeted. “Your reporting made it falsely sound like he did, when the truth is he owns 0%.”
Semafor — which launched last month with Bankman-Fried as one among the startup’s primary investors — said the fallen crypto king owned a large chunk of Twitter, in accordance with an FTX balance sheet prepared after Musk accomplished his takeover on Oct. 28 after which circulated to investors.
“SBF/FTX don’t own shares in Twitter,” Musk said, referring to Bankman-Fried’s better-known moniker.
Semafor’s Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith defended his outlet’s reporting and produced the alleged private exchange between Musk and Bankman-Fried, where Musk seems to encourage the FTX founder to roll his shares.
Musk again debunked the report and challenged Semafor’s independence in a later tweet.
“Semafor is owned by SBF. It is a massive conflict of interest in your reporting.”
Musk also noted that Bankman-Fried invested in Vox and The Intercept.
“If SBF was pretty much as good at running a crypto exchange as he was at bribing media, FTX would still be solvent!” jabbed Musk.
Renowned tech reporter Kara Swisher joined the fray and sided with Semafor.
“After all Elon took the $ after which dunked on SBF, since it is all a game that you just all aren’t alleged to see,” she tweeted
Musk responded, “There was a time if you cared in regards to the truth. That’s long gone.”
Musk also discredited the same claim about Twitter’s ties to Bankman-Fried that was published by Business Insider.
“Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly owns a $100 million stake in Elon Musk’s Twitter,” a news headline from the outlet read.
To which Musk replied: “[Business Insider] will not be an actual publication.”
Fox News contributed reporting
