When Elon Musk walked into the Twitter headquarters with a sink last year, it marked the end of one of the most dramatic takeover sagas in corporate history. The spectacular collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank, starting with a single-day crash of 60 per cent in its stock, has sent tremors throughout the global banking and tech sectors. After trading was halted to prevent a spillover before shutting down the bank, Elon Musk has grabbed the spotlight by offering to buy it.
Just one of his Twitter antics?
Known for his cryptic tweets and social media spats with employees, the billionaire wrote that he was open to the idea, when Razer CEO suggested that Twitter turn SVB into a digital lender. As part of his vision to turn Twitter into a super-app, Musk had also suggested enabling digital payments through the platform.
Around the same time last year, the Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder had made his first bid to buy Twitter, which was first opposed by shareholders, who agreed later only for Musk to pull out, before everyone agreed.
Silicon Valley Bank crisis spooks markets
Silicon Valley Bank is a major financial backer for startups and was the 16th largest in the US, which is also a partner for almost half of all tech and healthcare firms in the country. Its decline was triggered by a sell off by investors, following the bank's announcement for a stake sale to raise funds and plug a nearly $2 billion loss. The event that has reminded the world of the 2008 Lehman Brothers fiasco, has sent tremors throughout the global banking and tech sectors.
(To receive our E-paper on WhatsApp daily, please click here. To receive it on Telegram, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
