Mars, birth rates, but no Twitter: Elon Musk captivates Sun Valley moguls

SpaceX proprietor and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks on the E3 gaming conference in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 13, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake/

July 9 (Reuters) – Elon Musk prevented discussing the collapsed Twitter deal as he addressed an viewers of moguls on Saturday in Solar Valley, two sources who attended the convention instructed Reuters.

In a wide-reaching interview, Musk spent most of his time speaking about colonizing Mars and extolling the virtues of boosting start charges on Earth, stated the sources. Musk, chief govt of Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and rocket firm House X, has lengthy advocated establishing a civilization on the pink planet.

Musk earlier this week stated he’ll do his greatest to assist what he known as “the underpopulation disaster,” following a media report that stated he had twins with a high govt at his brain-chip start-up Neuralink. learn extra

He spoke about how start charges are declining in rich nations, a topic he has explored extensively on Twitter.

The billionaire entrepreneur took the stage on the Allen & Co Solar Valley Convention, an annual gathering of media and know-how executives in Idaho, lower than 24 hours after he introduced he was terminating his $44 billion deal to purchase Twitter Inc (TWTR.N).

The interview was performed by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, a man-made intelligence analysis firm based by Musk and a number of other others.

Musk’s arrival on the Allen & Co Solar Valley Convention delivered a jolt to the off-record occasion this week, the place the headline-making sometimes occurs past the prying eyes of the media.

“It simply looks like an absolute mess,” stated one senior media govt, who spoke on situation of anonymity forward of the interview. “The man makes his personal guidelines … I might hate to be Twitter, the place it’s a must to take this man severely.”

Solar Valley is often coated like an athleisure model of the Met Gala, with photographers capturing the arrivals of fleece-vested media moguls and reporters making word of power-lunches on the Konditorei cafe on the property.

One Hollywood power-broker Friday expressed hope that the Musk interview would enliven the convention’s staid, cerebral ambiance this yr.

Hours later, Musk’s attorneys delivered an eight-page letter to Twitter, saying he deliberate to name off the deal to accumulate the social community. The doc, filed with the Securities and Alternate Fee, alleged Twitter failed to answer repeated requests for info over the previous two months, or receive his consent earlier than taking actions that might influence its enterprise, similar to firing two key executives. learn extra

Up till that time, conversations in media circles targeted on Wall Avenue’s reappraisal of the streaming enterprise within the wake of Netflix Inc’s (NFLX.O) subscriber losses.

One digital media govt stated Hollywood, which has sometimes been insulated from recessions, is immediately frightened about how a worsening financial system will have an effect on their multi-billion-dollar investments in streaming companies.

“For the primary time, individuals are conscious the financial system does influence the leisure enterprise, as a result of inflation does influence churn,” the digital media govt stated, referring to subscribers leaving a service. “Individuals are actually saying, ‘Wow, will individuals actually pay for 3 of this stuff?’”

Following Musk’s announcement, one chief govt famous the elephant within the room, Saturday’s remarks would possibly nicely be uncomfortable to 2 convention attendees: Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and Chief Monetary Officer Ned Segal.

Considered one of Musk’s final public messages to Agrawal got here within the type of a tweet of a poop emoji in response to the Twitter CEO’s protection of how the corporate accounts for spam bots. learn extra

Reporting by Daybreak Chmielewski in Los Angeles; enhancing by Kenneth Li, Franklin Paul and Chris Reese

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