Billionaire Elon Musk has made enemies with several billionaires over the years, including the likes of Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.
Musk's acquisition of social media platform Twitter in 2022 may have escalated his rivalry with Zuckerberg.
What Happened: Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion in 2022 and has since changed the name of the platform to X. Several features being copied by Zuckerberg have led to a war of words and a potential cage match between the two billionaires.
A new book shared details about the Twitter acquisition and it could escalate the rivalry based on the words said by the billionaire after the deal was signed.
Author Ben Mezrich, who recently released "Breaking Twitter: Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover In History," shared what Musk's words were after signing to make the Twitter takeover official.
"In the book, there's a scene where Musk signs the papers to take over Twitter, and the first thing he screams out is, ‘F*** Zuck! F*** Zuck!' – which I haven't seen reported anywhere else," Mezrich said during an appearance on the podcast "On With Kara Swisher."
Mezrich said he got "unique access to Twitter employees and Musk's confidants" for his book, according to Insider.
During the interview, Mezrich told Swisher that Musk "definitely sees" Meta Platforms Inc META CEO Zuckerberg as a rival.
The book claimed the takeover of Twitter and running of the company alongside Tesla and SpaceX had a potential negative impact on Musk's health and reputation. The author mentions items like a stalker targeting Musk and the billionaire getting booed at a Dave Chappelle comedy show as items that hurt Musk.
Musk did not respond to the report from Insider.
Related Link: ‘Instagram Makes People Depressed’: Elon Musk Doubles Down On Criticism Of Non-Twitter Social Media Platforms
Why It's Important: Mezrich is the bestselling author of several books including "The Accidental Millionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal." That book was turned into a movie called "The Social Network" and centered on Zuckerberg and the early years of Facebook.
Mezrich also authored "The Antisocial Network: The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street to Its Knees," which was turned into the 2023 movie "Dumb Money."
The author teased that the new book on Musk could cause some controversy.
"The next one. Five weeks away. Oh boy this one is going to make some noise. Half of you will hate it. The other half will love it. But hopefully all of you will buckle up for the most wild ride of the season," Mezrich said previously.
Mezrich's "Breaking Twitter" follows the recent release of "Elon Musk," a biography from bestselling author Walter Isaacson, who spent months with Musk and provided a first-hand account of what went down when Twitter was sold.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Comments
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.
