During Elon Musk’s turbulent attempt to purchase Twitter, his legal team made a critical mistake: they accidentally sent confidential information regarding his financial backers to Twitter’s finance team. As Kate Conger and Ryan Mac recounted in Vanity Fair, Musk’s lawyers inadvertently shared a spreadsheet containing details of all the individuals and investment firms approached for funding. This blunder was immediately followed by a demand for the recipients to delete the email, backed by legal threats.
“That screwup was immediately followed by a legal threat to the Twitter recipients to delete the email and its contents,” the authors revealed, emphasizing the gravity of the error.
At the time, Musk’s ability to close the deal remained uncertain, casting doubt over the entire acquisition process. According to Conger and Mac, Twitter’s financial team members had adopted a grim sense of humor, joking about Musk’s elusive funding. “Members of Twitter’s finance teams had adopted a gallows humor approach to the deal,” the book notes, reflecting the underlying tension on Twitter’s side of the transaction.
While Musk eventually succeeded in buying Twitter, the uncertainty surrounding his financial resources painted a picture of chaos and confusion behind the scenes. Unlike typical buyers in corporate takeovers, who are usually transparent about their funding sources, Musk went to great lengths to obscure the origins of his funds. “Musk dumped all the funds into a single account so that Twitter couldn’t trace their origin,” Conger and Mac explained, highlighting his unconventional approach.
At one point, Musk’s financial advisor, Antonio Gracias, made a shocking request on his behalf. During a phone call with Twitter executives, Gracias informed them that Musk was short by $400 million and asked Twitter to front the money to complete the purchase. When met with astonishment and refusal from Twitter’s executives, Gracias attempted a pressure tactic that felt more akin to a mob-style negotiation.
“‘Are you saying no to Elon Musk?'” Gracias demanded, employing what the book describes as a “mafioso move” to coerce the company into compliance. However, despite the pressure, Twitter’s executives stood firm, rejecting the request and leaving Musk to find another solution.
