Elon Musk’s appearance at Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley Conference became even more popular after his Twitter Inc. deal fell through, but ultimately, many attendees were unimpressed.
He declined to comment on the deal, but he repeated his criticisms of the way the company handled the former president Donald Trump and the way it shared user data. According to those present at the closed-door meeting, it was probably a disappointment for many of those who had extended their stays in Sun Valley, Idaho, to hear from Musk.
Instead, less than a day after abandoning his $44 billion acquisition bid for Twitter, he took the stage on Saturday and, according to the people who asked not to be named, spent the majority of the time outlining his plans for humanity’s future on Mars.
The chief executive officer of SpaceX referred to Mars as a “civilian life insurance” policy in the marquee address, which is typically given by eminent investors like Warren Buffett. When the sun eventually goes out, the planet will serve as a platform for human life to continue, according to Musk.
Musk has long advocated for colonizing Mars and earlier this year mentioned a potential human landing on Mars by the year 2029 in a tweet. Investors from SpaceX were present at the Sun Valley conference, and some of them stayed for Musk’s speech. In its most recent funding round, the private company’s valuation has increased significantly.
During the conversation, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, whose company has collaborated closely with the world’s richest man, asked Musk a question via Twitter. Musk has made sizable donations to the research company OpenAI, which works to make artificial intelligence useful for society, and he previously served on its board of directors. Musk is still serving as OpenAI’s advisor.
Musk charged Twitter in a filing on Friday with misrepresenting user data and failing to uphold “contractual obligations” to provide details on how to gauge the prevalence of bots on the social media network. His decision to back out of the agreement sets the stage for a protracted legal battle, with Twitter promising to respond in court shortly after the filing was made.
Hesitation
At least one participant expressed sympathy for Musk’s choice to keep quiet about the deal, citing the ongoing legal proceedings. A few attendees admitted they had considered buying Twitter stock ahead of the deal, but they had held off because of Elon Musk’s erratic behavior and the possibility that he might back out of a deal.
Musk did mention that Twitter needs to share its algorithms and be more open with user data. He emphasized that he thought the lifetime ban imposed after the former president incited supporters to march on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 was unnecessary and that Trump needed a “time out” from the platform instead.
While there, Musk also discussed his displeasure with President Joe Biden’s administration for ignoring him and Tesla Inc. with its push for electric vehicles. The billionaire has increased his criticism of the current White House since tweeting in May that he will no longer support the Democrats and will vote Republican instead.
When asked by Bloomberg at the conference on Thursday if he was concerned about Musk backing out of the deal, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal remained silent.
