Reid Hoffman is the founder of LinkedIn and a close friend of Elon Musk. He immediately knew that it will not go well when he heard that Elon Musk decided to get into the social media business. When Musk made the offer, Twitter’s stock market price was at its highest. And according to Reid this immediately presented a problem.
“I read the tweet and I think I had the reaction of most people, it was like, ‘Oh my God, another huge problem. He’s already dealing with a large number.” – Reid Hoffman told at a recent podcast appearance.
LinkedIn Founder Claims He Warned Elon Musk About Buying Twitter
Reid Hoffman knows Elon Musk for a long time. Ever since he was a student. He is one of the people that rose to wealth at the same time as Elon. He took part in the group of friends that started the PayPal Company. Knowing him for such a long time he is aware that Elon Musk can make some impulsive decisions. Buying Twitter looks like one of them. The offer was done at the wrong time, for the wrong price, and finally, it is ending with a court case.
LinkedIn’s founder is not the only one that worried for Elon when he made the decision to dive into buying Twitter. At the podcast, Reid revealed that the whole circle of friends Elon has warned him about this. However, he did not get into detail, taking into consideration that the trial for Twitter is ongoing.
On the other side, Hoffman said that even though he doubted Elon’s decision, he did not push him too much with warnings and he did not try to make up his mind because ‘Elon somehow manages to make everything work’.
“After that was the thought, ‘I was one of the people who thought he couldn’t do both Tesla and SpaceX and clearly was wrong.’” – Hoffman concluded.
At the time of hearing the news about Elon’s plans, Reid says that he immediately texted him. “Okay, this is a big deal.” – Hoffman’s message said. “Wow, this could change the world. What do you think the plan is?” – he went on texting his close friends.
Hoffman is a big Elon supporter. He backs him up every time Elon needs it. For example, back in July when Donald Trump tried to slam Musk about his ‘not voting Republican until now’, Hoffman jumped in Elon’s defense.
“Not surprised to see Trump’s attacks on Elon Musk. Elon’s a classic immigrant story — an entrepreneur with a real record of success.” – Hoffman replied to Trump. “Started EV revolution w/Tesla, resurrected the US rocket industry w/SpaceX, fighting climate change while promoting American innovation.”
