Musk’s Private Conversations A Rare Look At Deal-Making As Big Fish

• Marc Andreessen directly messaged Elon Musk about investing in the Twitter takeover.
• In just two weeks, Andreessen’s company had pledged $400 Million to the deal.
• Earlier this week, Twitter’s legal team published texts between Musk and investors during the court battle.

Private messages between Elon Musk and billionaire investor Marc Andreessen highlight the simplicity of investing as one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capitalists — especially when you’re friends with the richest man in the world.

Musk was sent a Signal message in April by Andreessen, offering to co-invest in the deal to acquire Twitter for $44billion. This message was revealed for the first time in a court filing by Twitter against Andreessen. It was part of the attempt to force Musk into the deal.

“If equity partners are important to you, my growth fund is available for $250M[illion]With no additional work necessary,” Andreessen wrote in a screenshot of the messages.

“Thanks! Musk responded, saying that it would be great to have You as an Equity Partner. He directed Andreessen to follow up with him. Jared Birchall, righthand man

Within two weeks, it was AnnouncementAndreessen Horowitz, a VC fund run by Andreessen, agreed to invest $400 Million in the Twitter deal.

Insider requested comment from Andreessen’s spokespersons before publication.

Twitter’s legal department used the messages in its court filing. accuseMusk accused “destruction” of evidence, pointing out that the encrypted app messages were set to be deleted after a specified time.

Twitter also mentioned Text messagesMusk and James Gorman, CEO of Morgan Stanley, as well Oracle Cofounder Larry Ellison about the purchase. It said that Musk’s legal team didn’t produce any discovery.

Musk’s legal team reacted to the allegations that were filed Thursday and called the Signal message an “isolated event” and published messages between Musk, Gorman, and Ellison.

“The April 25 message from Mr. Andreessen that is the centerpiece of Twitter’s motion — was a message sent By Andreessen To Musk replied by telling Andreessen, “e-mail Birchall”, the filing stated.

Musk’s legal team also pointed out Signal messages that Twitter allegedly failed to produce. Citing its deposition with Jack Dorsey, Musk reportedly stated that “all of my staff, and all of my team were on Signal” due its “encryption tech” and “independence form major companies like Amazon, Meta.”

Twitter appears to be building an argument around Musk’s text. The social-media company’s lawyers made this claim earlier in the month. Share a message from Musk to a Morgan Stanley banker in which the billionaire said he wanted to “slow down” the deal, saying in private texts that it wouldn’t make sense to buy Twitter “if we’re heading into World War 3” with Russia. These texts were sent many months before Musk tried to pull out of the deal. They were used by Twitter to support the argument that Tesla CEO Musk wants the deal to be scrapped for economic reasons rather than concerns about the number of users.

Musk’s side continues to win. arguedTwitter deliberately mislead investors regarding the number authentic accounts on its website.

The trial, which will last five days, is scheduled to begin October 17.