Elon Musk Fires Back at Saudi Prince Who Rejected Buyout Offer

Elon Musk responded to Saudi Prince Al Waleed on Thursday, after the shareholder stated that he was not satisfied with Musk’s $43 billion offer to buy the social media giant.

Musk asked outright how much stock Al Waleed, and his company, currently owned.

“Interesting.” Musk said, “Just two questions, if I may. How much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly or indirectly? What are the Kingdom’s views on journalistic free speech?”

This after Al Waleed said “I don’t believe that the proposed offer by @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of @Twitter given its growth prospects. Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, @Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer.”

Al Waleed held over 5 percent of Twitter’s shares after a stock buy in 2015. This included his own holdings, as well as those held by his investment company Kingdom Holding Company.

It has been reported since then that he doesn’t hold as much stock as the 5 percent figure.

Musk spoke to TED on Thursday, as well, giving an interview about his plans. He said that in the event that his purchase is not approved, he has a plan B, though he did not elaborate on what that was.