Mr Trump and Mr Musk have spoken “more than was known” about politics and business.
Former United States President Donald Trump asked SpaceX and Tesla Chief Elon Musk if he wanted to buy his social networking platform Truth Social, as per a report in the Washington Post. However, the proposal did not turn into a deal.
The report, which cited two unnamed sources, stated that Donald Trump made the offer last summer while Elon Musk was still in charge of Twitter, now X after it was bought by him in late 2022.
It added that Mr Trump and the billionaire have spoken “more than was known” about politics and business and the former US president told his advisers that the Tesla CEO should buy Truth Social even though their talks fell through.
Mr Trump’s media company, which owns Truth Social, was embroiled in a long merger procedure at the time of last summer’s meeting.
Elon Musk met with Mr Trump earlier this month in Palm Beach, Florida, along with unnamed wealthy Republican donors, the New York Times said. Although the subject of the meeting remains unclear, it was stated that the meeting happened as Mr Trump was looking for campaign contributors to run for the 2024 US Elections.
However, discussing the Truth Social deal and campaign talks, Mr Musk told the Washington Post that he had “never been to Mar-a-Lago,” which is Mr Trump’s estate in Palm Beach. Donald Trump, in an interview with CNBC, confirmed the meeting but said he doesn’t know whether the billionaire would endorse him. “I don’t know. I’ve been friendly with him over the years. I’ve helped him; when I was president I, helped him. I’ve liked him. We obviously have opposing views on a minor subject called electric cars,” he said.
The second-richest man wrote on his microblogging platform that he would not donate money to any candidate for the elections. “Just to be super clear, I am not donating money to either candidate for US President,” Mr Musk wrote on March 6.
Shannon Devine, a spokeswoman for Trump Media & Technology Group, in a statement, told the outlet, “We heard Trump and Musk were actually discussing buying the Washington Post but they decided it had no value.”
Although Elon Musk reinstated Mr Trump’s account on his platform in November 2022, however, Mr Trump has not posted anything on the same. People close to him speculate that one of the reasons might be the financial significance of his Truth Social site, which he tracks obsessively, as per the report.
Meanwhile, since its launch in 2022, Mr Trump’s “free speech” platform has encountered substantial financial challenges. Truth Social suffered tens of millions of dollars in losses last year, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in November. The company has faced a lot of delays over its planned merger with the acquisition company Digital World Acquisition Corp. The SEC approved the agreement last month, and it is thought to be a significant win for Mr Trump.