Business news publication, Semafor, has claimed that FTX founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried owns shares at Twitter. This claim is coming few weeks after the crypto trading firm filed for bankruptcy after a business deal with its sister firm went south. Following this allegation were a series of rebuttals from Twitter CEO, Elon Musk.
According to the report, the former FTX CEO is said to have been contacted by Musk to roll over his shares in Twitter once the company went private. Yes, Sam Bankman-Fried “owned” some shares with Twitter before Musk bought the company. According to the reports, Sam had over $100 million worth of shares at Twitter before Elon’s takeover.
The report goes on to state that Elon Musk went into a deal with Sam to roll over his shares after Twitter’s purchase. To back up these seemingly wild claims, Semafor published alleged text conversations between Musk and Bankman-Fried. In response, Musk called the publication out and said the report was a lie. He added that Bankman-Fried may have had shares with Twitter, but that was before he purchased the platform. Musk also replied a writer at Semafor insisting that Bankman-Fried no longer has any shares with Twitter under the new ownership.
After Musk’s blunt denial of the report, questions poured in on the likelihood of one owning shares at Twitter and all of a sudden not owning them after it became private. Further investigation into Musk’s claims resulted in new updates showing that Sam Bankman-Fried does not currently own any shares with Twitter. Additionally, before the Twitter purchase by Elon Musk, the billionaire and Sam had been in talks regarding a possible partnership to secure the platform.
Sadly, the former FTX CEO was quick to back out of the arrangement, possibly triggering Musk. With the release of the 18 investors in Musk’s Twitter purchase, neither Bankman-Fried nor his former company, FTX, were on the list. So far, people familiar with the matter within the ranks of Twitter and FTX have held back from making any comments.
