Leaked texts allegedly from Elon Musk reveal the awkward response he had to the boss of a $1.7 million Norwegian sovereign wealth fund.
Nicolai Tangen is seemingly not in Musk's good books after his company, Norges Bank Investment Management, rejected Tesla's pay package.
The fund, which is one of Tesla's ten largest shareholders, rejected the compensation deal proposed by Musk back in June last year.
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That was worth $56 billion some seven months ago, but is now said to be valued at around $100 billion.
Tangen, CEO of NBIM, invited Musk alongside the head honchos of Ferrari, Nestlé, Adidas, DoorDash, and Novo Nordisk for dinner in Oslo.
As per Business Insider, Musk decided to decline the invitation to dinner alongside fellow CEOs and rich individuals, citing it was too 'expensive' for him.
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"This would be very difficult and expensive for me to attend," Musk allegedly wrote in a text to NBIM.
The messages were first released by Norwegian newspaper E24 following freedom-of-information laws coming into effect.
Musk reportedly added: "When I ask you for a favor, which I very rarely do, and you decline, then you should not ask me for one until you've done something above nothing to make amends. Friends are as friends do."
A few days after those apparent messages were sent, Musk reportedly forwarded messages to Tangen from an unnamed correspondent.
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In this, the CEO was accused of providing private text messages to the media and telling them Musk wouldn't be on the guest list, as per Business Insider.
Tangen stated he didn't detail the messages to the press, but instead they were released by his communications department.
Nonetheless, the CEO is sorry for what happened.
"The country is obsessed about you, but this is not reflecting badly on you," he said. "Still, sorry for any inconvenience."
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UNILAD has reached out to Musk's representatives for comment.
Elsewhere in the world of Musk, a tweet where the Tesla founder revealed the company nearly went bankrupt has resurfaced.
Musk admitted Tesla had been struggling in a post on Twitter in 2020, when he responded to an 'On This Day' post about some of Tesla's earlier problems.
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The post read: "On this day in 2008: Tesla secures $40 million loan to avoid bankruptcy. Today, it’s the most valuable automaker in the world."
In response to the post, Musk revealed that Tesla had at one point been just one month away from complete bankruptcy.
He wrote: "Closest we got was about a month."
Topics: Business, Elon Musk, Tesla, Technology
Callum Jones