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Tesla CEO Elon Musk was offered a price cut on his purchase of Twitter if he agreed to two conditions – which he turned down, says former Trump presidential adviser Steve Bannon.
In a recent interview with OANN, Bannon said he learned through internal sources that Musk was presented with a lower price if he agreed not to reinstate the account of President Donald Trump, which was banned shortly after the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
BREAKING: Sources tell Bannon Twitter gave @elonmusk 2 conditions
1.Trump & Conservatives remain off Twitter
2.Twitter staff remains the sameMusk said….. NO DEAL. pic.twitter.com/ze1jwPEl1l
— CaitlinSinclairTV (@CSinclairtv) October 5, 2022
Musk was additionally pressured not to reinstate conservative accounts that were previously banned, and to promise he wouldn’t terminate staff.
“…From very close sources that it’s because Twitter came back and said, ‘Hey, we’ll actually knock a couple of billion dollars off the price if you commit to two things. Number one: not let Trump and the conservatives back on Twitter that we’ve already banned.”
“Number two: if you allow the management team to stay.”
Ultimately, Bannon says Musk declined the offer.
“My understanding is that Elon Musk was not prepared to do either one and said, ‘No, the deal’s a deal.’”
For his part, Musk said he would reinstate Trump’s account when he first moved to acquisition Twitter earlier this year.
“I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump. I think that was a mistake,” Musk told the Financial Times at a summit in May. “It alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.”
MORE – Trump’s Twitter ban was “foolish to the extreme,” says Musk.pic.twitter.com/wYq4st4QnX
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) May 10, 2022
It’s coming…
pic.twitter.com/RWYSvjlwyM
— Jenna Ellis
(@JennaEllisEsq) October 5, 2022
He added he believed the ban “was a morally bad decision, to be clear, and foolish in the extreme.”
In regards to laying off Twitter staff, text messages released in court filings this week show he’s strongly considering doing so in order to increase the company’s “revenue per employee,” which is low compared to companies like Apple and Google.