Elon Musk, owner of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla, speaks at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles, California, USA, June 13, 2019. REUTERS / Mike Blake /
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July 9 (Reuters) – Elon Musk avoided discussing the collapsed Twitter deal, only repeating allegations of fake account problems on the social media platform, while addressing a tycoon hearing on Saturday, van tell Reuters two people who attended the conference.
In a powerful interview on Saturday, Musk spent most of his time talking about Mars and extolled the virtues of increasing birth rates on Earth, one source said. Musk, executive director of Tesla Inc. (TSLA.O) and rocket company Space X, has said he aims to establish a civilization on Mars.
Musk earlier this week said he would do everything possible to help what he called the “underpopulation crisis,” following a media report saying he had twins with a senior executive at his start-up. Neuralink. Read more
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The billionaire businessman took to the stage at the Allen & Co. Sun Valley Conference, an annual meeting of media and technology executives in Idaho, less than 24 hours after announcing he would terminate his $ 44 billion deal to buy Twitter Inc (TWTR.N).
The interview was conducted by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research company founded by Musk and several others.
Musk’s arrival at the Allen & Co Sun Valley Conference gave a shock to this week’s off-record event, where headline creation often goes beyond the prying eyes of the media.
“It looks like an absolute disaster,” said a senior media executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity prior to the interview. “The guy makes his own rules … I wouldn’t want to be on Twitter, where you have to take yourself seriously.”
Sun Valley is usually covered as a sports version of the Met Gala, with photographers capturing the arrivals of media moguls in polar costumes and journalists taking note of energy lunches at the property’s Konditorei cafe.
A Hollywood power agent on Friday expressed hope that Musk’s interview would liven up the calm, cerebral atmosphere of the conference this year.
Hours later, Musk’s lawyers handed out an eight-page letter on Twitter, saying he planned to cancel the deal to acquire the social network. The document, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, alleged that Twitter did not respond to repeated requests for information during the past two months, nor did it obtain its consent before taking actions that would affect its business, such as firing two key executives. Read more
So far, talks in media circles have focused on Wall Street’s revaluation of the streaming business following the loss of Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) subscribers. A digital media executive said Hollywood, which has typically been isolated from recessions, is suddenly worried about how a worsening of the economy will affect its multimillion-dollar investments in streaming services.
“For the first time, people are aware that the economy is affecting the entertainment business, because inflation is affecting turnover,” the digital media executive said, referring to subscribers leaving a service. “People now say, ‘Wow, will people really pay for three of these things?’
Following Musk’s announcement, an executive director pointed to the elephant in the room: Saturday’s comments could be uncomfortable for two conference attendees: Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, and CFO Ned Segal.
One of Musk’s latest public messages to Agrawal took the form of a tweet of a poop emoji in response to the Twitter CEO’s defense of how the company accounts for spam bots. Read more
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Report by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; edited by Kenneth Li and Franklin Paul
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