Elon Musk says he's 'open to the idea' of buying Silicon Valley Bank

Elon Musk.
Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images

Elon Musk tweeted late Friday he was “open to the idea” of buying the failed Silicon Valley Bank.
A Tesla investor appeared to disapprove of the billionaire’s idea, telling him “no thanks.”
Musk sold about $23 billion of Tesla stock last year to help finance his Twitter takeover. 

Elon Musk said late Friday he was “open to the idea” of buying Silicon Valley Bank after its collapse, but the idea had a frosty reception from at least one Tesla investor.

“I think Twitter should buy SVB and become a digital bank,” tweeted Min-Liang Tan, cofounder and CEO of Razer, a company that sells gaming computers.

Musk said in a short response “I’m open to the idea,” without giving further context.

—Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
March 11, 2023

One Twitter user backed Musk’s idea, saying “what an opportunity,” but another called Sanjay responded: “And sell another $20 billion worth of $Tesla stock. No thanks!”

Sanjay’s Twitter profile describes him as a “Tesla customer and investor, bull and Elon fan.” Insider couldn’t verify whether the user was a shareholder or the size of his holding. 

Musk made a series of Tesla stock sales last year to help finance his Twitter acquisition, helping to depress the share price. The CEO sold stock worth $8.5 billion in April, $6.9 billion in August, $3.95 billion in November, and $3.6 billion in December, totaling almost $23 billion.

Silicon Valley Bank was shut down on Friday by US regulators following a run on deposits, Insider’s Sindhu Sundar explained. Startup founders moved to withdraw funds on Thursday, rattled by the bank’s falling stock price that followed a capital raising announced on Wednesday night. 

The bank is now being handled by receivers, potentially delaying access to deposits for a considerable period of time. Some hope that a buyer will come forward this weekend to avoid such a scenario.

Musk and Sanjay didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.