DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The world economic forum says billionaire Elon Musk was not on the guest list for the annual gathering of business executives, world leaders and cultural tastemakers in Davos, Switzerland, despite Twitter owner claims.
notables of Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Union actor Idris Elba are gathering in the luxurious Alpine town this week to discuss global issues ranging from war to climate change to the effects of technology on security.
Musk was not there, although he says he was invited. Forum spokesman Yann Zopf shot that down on Tuesday, saying the last time the Tesla CEO received an invitation “was not this year or recently, the last time was 2015.”
Musk said in a tweet Dec 22: “My reason for turning down the Davos invitation was not because I thought they were involved in diabolical intrigue, but because it sounded boring.”
He did not specify when he received the invitation, but the timing of the tweet suggested it was this year. Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Organizers extended invitations to Musk, as the head of Tesla, to join several times in the 2010s, most recently in 2015, but he never registered or attended the annual meeting, Zopf said.
The meeting has been criticized for the lack of concrete actions that come after a series of sessions and speeches, while the forum itself has been the target of online conspiracy theories from those who believe the meeting involves a group of elites manipulating global events for their own benefit.
Billionaire Musk, one of the richest people in the world, can certainly afford to attend Davos.
Forum members pay between 120,000 and 850,000 Swiss francs ($130,000 to $921,000) for annual memberships, depending on the level of membership they desire.
Many executives travel to Davos to take advantage of the meeting and rub shoulders with the corporate executives who flock to the city, sometimes taking random shots on the forum from the sidelines. For example, Richard Branson, the British tycoon behind Virgin, is said to have come to town several times without making it to the meeting.
FABRICE COFFRINI via Getty Images
Still, Musk might be a little too busy hanging out with the mighty in snowy Switzerland.
While still grappling with the fallout from last year’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter, Musk faces trial for his tweet about taking Tesla private in 2018.
Jury selection begins this week and he will have to explain his actions under oath in San Francisco court after tweeting that he had obtained the financing to pay for the $72 billion purchase of the electric car maker, which never happened. It culminated in a $40 million settlement with US securities regulators that also required him to step down as company president.
He also plans to step down as CEO but remain the owner of Twitter, which he managed to take private last summer but has alienated some users and advertisers with chaotic job cuts and changes to content moderation policies.