Elon Musk’s offer to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share and take the company private is just the latest elaborate dig in the billionaire’s ongoing battle with the SEC, fellow tech entrepreneur Mark Cuban claims.
Musk’s made the offer — complete with a 420 reference — alongside a declaration that Twitter “needs to be transformed as a private company” to unlock its full potential. Cuban noted the offer was quite similar to the incident that originally landed Musk in hot water with the SEC.
In his infamous 2018 tweet, Musk declared that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 per share — leading the SEC to accuse him of making false and misleading statements about the company’s finances.
“My conclusion, @elonmusk is f—king with the SEC,” Cuban tweeted. “His filing w/the SEC allows him to say he wants to take a company private for $54.20 Vs. his ‘Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.’
“Price go up. His shares get sold. Profit [up] SEC like WTF just happened,” Cuban added.
Musk revealed his Twitter offer during an ongoing effort by his legal team to terminate a 2018 settlement with the SEC over his original “funding secured” tweet.
The settlement included a consent decree requiring that all of Musk’s tweets pertaining to Tesla or its business be reviewed and approved by company attorneys before they could be posted.
The SEC argued that Musk’s tweet constituted fraud, while he has maintained it was truthful.
Musk’s spat with the SEC resurfaced during his Thursday appearance at a TED conference in Vancouver — where he discussed his offer to buy Twitter just hours after it became public knowledge.
During the conversation, Musk was adamant that he had enough funding secured to buy Twitter — and pushed back on the SEC’s stance that he didn’t have the backing to take Tesla private in 2018.
“With Tesla back in the day, funding was actually secured. I want to be clear about that,” Musk said.
Musk claimed that he only agreed to settle with the SEC because banks warned him they would cut off Tesla’s cash flow if the case continued.
“So that’s like having a gun to your child’s head,” Musk claimed. “So I was forced to concede to the SEC unlawfully. Those bastards.”
Cuban elaborated on his view of Musk’s offer in a series of tweets — revealing his belief that Twitter’s current management would “do everything possible not to sell the company.”
“They will try to get a friendly to come in and buy Elon’s shares and get him out,” Cuban added.
Cuban surmised that major tech firms such as Google or Facebook could explore an acquisition of the company after Musk’s action opened the possibility of a sale.