View All the Private Texts of the Most Powerful Billionaires

• Text logs reveal Reid Hoffman, Jack Dorsey and Joe Rogan texting Musk about Twitter. 
• There were many conversations, from praises for Musk’s financial moves to financing his acquisition of company.
• Texts also reveal who Musk was influenced by and what caused the end of talks between Musk and Twitter executives. 

Elon Musk‘s smartphone has been bombarded by billionaires, executives, bankers, and other notable figures from tech, finance, and media, all hoping to get a piece of his wild and wayward $44 billion Acquisition of Twitter. 

In the lawsuit against Musk that Twitter filed, hundreds of his private messages were made public. Musk is currently trying to get out of the deal. Other tech billionaires, such as former CEO of Twitter, were among those who turned up. Jack Dorsey, Oracle Chairman Larry EllisonFTX founder, Sam Bankman-FriedA friend of mine was also interested in purchasing Twitter. Musk offeredText logs show that $5 billion is needed to be a part of his final deal.

Gayle King (TV personality) wanted Musk to do a sit-down interview. Joe RoganJustin Roiland is the co-creator and co-creator for “Rick and Morty.” Mathias DöpfnerCEO of Insider parent company Axel Springer. James Murdoch and Kathryn Murdoch also make appearances.

Musk also maintained a long-standing relationship with Twitter executives, including the board chairperson and Salesforce coCEO. Bret TaylorCurrent Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal. Talks between Musk and Agrawal quickly went south, prompting Musk’s revelation that he had decided to purchase Twitter rather than join its board of directors because a seat on the board was “a waste” Musk’s brother, Brother Kimball Musk, was often a confidant in Musk’s ideas for Twitter. Competiting platform.  

Musk’s text also includes details about the people he reached out to in order to get financing or advice for running the company. Musk received help from many others to provide their ideas, money, and support. David Sacks was invited as an investor. Reid Hoffman suggested that he could invest $2 billion in a deal. Marc Benioff (founder of Salesforce) shows up to discuss a new operating system that Twitter uses. Jason Calacanis, a Musk friend, and Tim Urban, a VC, offer their assistance, as do Adeo Russi, Joe Lonsdale and Marc Merrill, founders of Riot Games. Sean Parker texted to let you know that he was researching Twitter from his mother’s place. 

The log clearly shows that Musk was serious about Twitter’s acquisition at least once. Musk didn’t start discussing concerns about the platform until May. It all began with an exchangeMusk speaks with Michael Grimes (Morgan Stanley tech banker) in which he asks him to slow down about the deal. The log shows that most of the text messages were written between March and mid June. Musk had just sent a Twitter letter asking for a cancellation of the deal. Musk is now locked in a legal battle against the company, trying to force it to buy him.

For highlights of the best exchanges between Musk (and other Twitterati), see below:

Jack Dorsey

Musk and Dorsey exchanged many texts before Musk’s involvement with Twitter was made public. Musk eventually cited phone conversations that he had with Dorsey to support his decision to make the company private. Musk sent one text to Bret Taylor, the board chair, on April 10, two days after telling Agrawal that he wanted to purchase the company and not serve on its board.

“It’s better for Twitter to be taken private and restructured, then to return to the public markets once that has been done.” Jack also agreed with me when we spoke.

Joe Rogan

Musk has spoken twice to Rogan on his podcast, with one 2018 interview in which he was infamously smoked marijuana. This led to some Corporate headaches for the Tesla CEO. Rogan first messaged Musk April 4, when Musk’s Twitter stake became public. Rogan asked, “Are your going to liberate Twitter from the censorship happy Mob?”

Musk replied, “I will give advice, which they may choose to follow.”

Rogan texted back on April 25, after Musk had offered Twitter acquisition. “I REALLY hope that you get Twitter. Rogan replied, “If you do, let’s throw one helluva party.” Musk responded with the “100” emoji.

Parag Agrawal

Parag Agrawal took over as Twitter CEO from Dorsey less than one year ago. Things seem to have started out friendly between Musk, Parag Agrawal and Musk. The text log and other video chats show that they discussed meeting up in person with Taylor. Agrawal stated that Musk joined the board on April 3rd, just days before the public announcement. He was “super excited” about the opportunity.

After Musk asked Musk via Twitter on April 9: “Is Twitter dying?”, the mood quickly changed. 

Musk was assured by Agrawal that he was allowed to tweet whatever he liked about Twitter. However, it was his responsibility to inform him that it wasn’t helping me to make Twitter more useful in this current context. Next time we speak, I’d love to share my perspective on the current level of internal distraction and how it hinders our ability do work.

Musk asked “What did this week bring you?” about 30 minutes later. Musk immediately responded by saying, “I’m no longer joining the board.” It’s a waste of time.” He then added, “Will make an offering to take Twitter private.”

Agrawal requested to speak on the phone to Musk. Musk apparently refused. Taylor then followed up a few moments later and said that Agrawal had told him about “your text conversation.” Taylor also asked for a call. Musk said, “Please expect a private offer.” Taylor tried to call Musk again, saying that he wanted to “understand context”.

Musk responded, “Fixing Twitter with chatting to Parag won’t work,” Musk said. “Strong action is required.”

“This is not an easy task for a public company. Purging fake users will make numbers look horrible. So restructuring should be done in a private company. Jack agrees with Jack.

Musk said that he was not going to pick up the phone to Taylor and that he was “about” to take off, but that if he could talk to Taylor the next day, a new conversation would be possible.

Larry Ellison

Ellison and Musk also texted several times. Ellison supported Musk’s efforts to acquire Twitter from the start. Musk sent Ellison a text message on March 27 asking him to set up a phone call. He replied, “I do believe we need another Twitter.”

Musk asked Ellison, on April 20, if he would be interested in financing the deal. Ellison replied, “Yes, of course.” He offered to put up “A billion… or whatever you recommend.” Musk suggested $2 billion, but Ellison ended up only putting in $1 billion. 

Musk wrote Ellison: “This has very great potential and I’d like to have you.”

“I agree that it has huge potential… and it would be lots of fun,” Ellison replied.

Sam Bankman-Fried

Will MacAskill was an advisor to FTX founder Sam BankmanFried. He sent Musk a text on March 29 to try and connect them about Twitter. This was two weeks before Musk took over the company. Asked MacAskill if he could “vouch for him”, it’s not clear if Musk knew Bankman-Fried immediately. MacAskill said that Bankman Fried had been interested in Twitter’s purchase “for a while”, and that he was open to discussing a possible partnership in that direction with Musk.

Musk replied that he had a lot of money. MacAskill stated that he was worth $24Billion and had already indicated that he contributed $1 billion to $8 Billion to any deal for Twitter. This could have potentially led to a figure of $15 billion with financing.

Musk was not interested. Musk did not respond to Bankman-Fried’s April 1 text message, saying that he was open to chatting about Twitter (or other subjects) whenever it suits him. Musk replied “Hi!” Musk replied “Hi!” and said he was currently in Germany. Bankman-Fried offered a call at a time that would work for Musk’s time zone. However, there are no messages in the log that show that Musk replied. Two weeks later, when Musk’s offer to acquire Twitter had been in full swing, Bankman Fried again texted, saying that he would love to “talk about Twitter”. Musk has not responded.

Morgan Stanley’s Grimes tried to link Musk with Bankman-Fried, saying that he could invest $5 billion in Musk’s deal for Twitter. Musk disapproved of Grimes’ text explaining briefly Bankman-Fried and suggesting a meeting. Musk said that a meeting was possible “as long as there’s no laborious blockchain debate.”

Joe Lonsdale

Musk started asking questions and conducting polls to his many million followers on Twitter about its future before the stake in Twitter was made public. Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale and a vocal political conservative, sent Musk a text in response to his March 24 post asking “Should twitter be an open source?”

Musk was contacted by Lonsdale, who said he loved the question. He was also going to bring the matter up at the “GOP policy retreat” that he was attending the next day. “Now, I can cite your name so I won’t sound too crazy. Public squares should not be subject to arbitrary and sketchy censorship.

Musk replied, “Absolutely.” Musk replied, “Absolutely!”

Gayle King

King tried to convince Musk to sit down with her a few times by texting him. The first time King texted Musk was April 6. He wrote, “Have I missed you. Do you want to sit down and have a good conversation with me? There is so much to talk about! Particularly with your Twitter play… ???”

Musk responded by downplaying his involvement, saying, “The whole Twitter affair is getting blown out. “”Owning 9.9% is not really control.

Gayle sent Musk another text two weeks later, when Musk offered to buy Twitter.

“ELON! You offer to buy Twitter wow, or you are buying Twitter. Do you not think we should all sit down together? This is like the children saying a “gangsta move” I don’t know how shareholders can turn this down… I told you you’re not like the other kids in class.

Musk responded to his suggestion a few more days later that Oprah would be a good addition on Twitter’s board. Musk wrote that wisdom about humanity and the ability to know what is right were more important than ‘board governance skills’ which, in his experience, mean little.

Reid Hoffman

Musk invited Reid Hoffman on April 27 to finance the Twitter deal. Hoffman declined to participate in the financing of the Twitter deal at first. I take it that you’re not interested.

Musk stated that VC money is fine “if you want”.

He added that “There are plenty of financial assistance, but you’re a friend so just letting them know you’d get priority.”

Hoffman asked Hoffman what the “largest amount of money that would be OK?” Hoffman replied, “Great.” It’s possible, let me know. Musk then linked Hoffman to Morgan Stanley.

While the text log does not reveal why Hoffman ultimately decided to withdraw from the deal, Hoffman claimed This was earlier in the monthTo be skeptical about it. 

Egon Durban

Before his share in the company became public, Musk sent Egon Durban, director at Silver Lake Capital, his first text.

“This is Elon. Please call when you can. Musk sent a text confirming that it was about the Twitter board.

Durban connected Musk by text the next day with Taylor, Agrawal and Martha Lane Fox, another board member of Twitter.

“Elon – everyone is excited about prospect of you being involved and on board. The next step is to meet with me so we can quickly move this forward. Durban wrote that maybe we can do this in the next few hours. 

Musk joined the board on April 5th, according to Agrawal. 

Musk and Durban might have had an argument at some point. The log shows their last communication on April 17th, Musk’s text. This was after Musk offered to buy Twitter.

“You’re calling Morgan Stanley to speak poorly of me…” Musk wrote. Durban’s reply does not appear in this log.

James Murdoch 

Musk was contacted by James Murdoch on April 26th, via text message. Musk replied saying “Thanks.” I will link you up.”

Murdoch stated, “Also call when some of this dust settles.” We hope everything is fine.

Kathryn Murdoch, Murdoch’s wife, sent a text in the same thread asking only “Will Jack be back?”

Musk responded, “Jack doesn’t want to return.” He is focusing on Bitcoin.

David Sacks

Musk and Sacks exchanged links and casually texted several times about Twitter. Sacks asked Musk on April 26 if he would be interested in connecting to Justin Amash, a libertarian politician. Amash asked Sacks to introduce himself in order to “help Twitter.” Musk responded, “I don’t have Twitter yet.”

Musk asked Sacks the following day if he wanted “investment in the take-private.” Sacks answered “Yes, but I don’t have a vehicle (Craft is an venture), so I either need to set up an SPV or do it myself. In relative terms, the amount would be small but I’d be willing to donate to the cause.

Musk declared, “Up to you.”

Sacks wrote that he was in and would raise an SPV if necessary.

Musk replied, “Sure,”

Sacks tried to resist being part of the Twitter case against Musk. Argumentation he never committed to investing in the deal.

Justin Roiland

Musk texted Roiland on April 6, after Musk had agreed to join Twitter’s board. Roiland is the co-creator and popular cartoon for adults “Rick and Morty”.

Roiland declared, “I fucking love the fact that you are the majority owner Twitter.”

He suggested that Musk meet his friends who had developed a program to verify identities. “As it is, if people decide to use it it could verify that the person is not a troll farmer and that they are real people.”

Musk corrected him two-days later by saying that he only owned 9% of Twitter and therefore did not control the company. Musk said he would raise the issue of identity with Parag (CEO). 

Are you a Twitter employee, or do you have insight to share with others? Kali Hays can be reached at khays@insider.com for secure messaging. SignalContact Hayskali at 949-280-0167 or via Twitter DM @hayskali Reach out to us using a device other than your work device.