The highly anticipated biography of tech mogul Elon Musk, written by Walter Isaacson, will be released on Sep. 12. The owner of X, formerly Twitter, Musk’s life and achievements will be explored in detail in the book.
What Happened: In an exclusive excerpt from his new biography ‘Elon Musk,’ Isaacson writes in The Wall Street Journal the behind-the-scenes look at one of the most controversial decisions of Musk’s career.
The book delves into Musk’s notable decision to acquire Twitter and explores the potential possibilities for Dogecoin DOGE/USD, as well as the intriguing circumstances of his interaction with Sam Bankman–Fried. Here are some compelling excerpts that shed light on these topics.
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According to Isaacson, after it became public that Musk was buying Twitter stock, he reached out to Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO, and arranged a secret dinner meeting on March 31. Musk described Agrawal as “a really nice guy,” but he believed that being likable was not a desirable trait for a CEO. Musk stated, “What Twitter needs is a fire-breathing dragon, and Parag is not that.”
Blockchain Social Media: Kimbal’s Idea
The next day, Musk had lunch with his brother Kimbal, who suggested the idea of starting a new social-media platform based on the blockchain. Musk got intrigued and even half-jokingly mentioned incorporating Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency he had been funding, as a payment system for the platform. After lunch, he sent Kimbal a few texts expanding on the concept of “a blockchain social media system that does both payments and short text messages like Twitter.”
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Blockchain Twitter and Musk’s “Nuts” Reputation
Isaacson also writes about Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, who expressed interest in joining the deal. Musk’s banker Morgan Stanley urged him to consider Bankman-Fried, who claimed he could provide engineering expertise for social media blockchain integration and invest $5 billion in the project.
However, Musk believed that building a social network on the blockchain would be too slow for fast-paced Twitter postings. He responded to his banker by stating, “Blockchain Twitter isn’t possible, as the bandwidth and latency requirements cannot be supported by a peer-to-peer network.”
After expressing interest in Musk’s plans for Twitter, Bankman-Fried proposed converting his $100 million worth of Twitter stock into a stake in Twitter, once Musk took it private. Musk initially said yes, but subsequent communication with Bankman-Fried did not go well. Bankman-Fried felt Musk seemed “nuts,” and as a result, he decided against investing or converting his Twitter stock.
Why Does It Matter?
Musk’s lawyers eventually convinced him that going to trial would likely result in losing the case, leading Musk to close the deal on the original terms. Despite initially expressing his frustrations towards Twitter’s management, Musk regained enthusiasm and acknowledged the company’s potential. He stated, “The potential is so great. There are so many things I could fix.” Musk agreed to officially close the deal in October.
Over the course of two years, Isaacson immersed himself in Elon Musk’s world, shadowing him and closely studying his mind and daily activities. Isaacson conducted comprehensive interviews with Musk’s family, friends, colleagues, and even rivals, aiming to comprehend the multifaceted nature of one of the world’s greatest minds.
Preorders for Elon Musk’s biography are now open on Amazon.
Price Action: At the time of writing, DOGE was trading at $0.063, up 0.10% in the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.
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