Contrary to what the owner of Twitter asserts, the World Economic Forum denies that billionaire Elon Musk was on the guest list for the annual gathering of business executives, world leaders, and cultural trend-setters in Davos, Switzerland.
This week, notables from the head of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen, to actor Idris Elba are meeting in the affluent Alpine town to discuss global challenges, including war, climate change, and the impact of technology on security.
Musk claims he was invited, but he wasn’t present. The last time the Tesla CEO received an invitation, according to Forum spokesman Yann Zopf, was “not this year and not recently—last time in 2015,” he said on Tuesday.
“My rationale for denying the Davos invitation was not because I believed they were involved in nefarious scheming, but because it sounded boring af hahaha,” Musk wrote in a tweet on December 22.
Although he didn’t say when he received the invitation, the tweet’s timing hinted that it was for this year.
The Associated Press reached out to Musk for comment on Tuesday, but he did not respond immediately.
As the CEO of Tesla, organizers did invite Musk to join a few times in the 2010s; the final time was in 2015; however, Musk never registered or showed up to the annual conference, according to Zopf.
The forum has been the subject of online conspiracy theories from people who think the conference involves a group of elites controlling global events for profit.
The gathering has been criticized for lacking action following a series of sessions and speeches.
Musk, a multibillionaire and one of the wealthiest individuals in the world, can undoubtedly afford to visit Davos.
Depending on the level of affiliation they desire, forum members pay 120,000 to 850,000 Swiss francs ($130,000 to $921,000) for annual subscriptions.
Many business leaders travel to Davos to attend the conference and mingle with the throngs of visiting company executives while occasionally taking jabs at the forum from the sidelines.
For instance, Virgin’s British founder Richard Branson saw the city multiple times without attending the summit.
Musk might already be too busy to be hanging out with the rich and famous in chilly Switzerland.
While still dealing with the repercussions of purchasing Twitter for $44 billion last year, Musk is in court for his post on taking Tesla private in 2018.
After tweeting that he had secured the funds to pay for a $72 billion takeover of the electric carmaker, which never materialized, he will have to defend his actions in court in San Francisco under oath.
Jury selection will begin this week. The result was a $40 million settlement with American securities regulators that obliged him to give up his position as chairman of the business.
He also intends to leave his position as CEO of Twitter, which he was able to take private last summer, but he has alienated some users and advertisers with haphazard layoffs and changes to content moderation procedures.
However, he will continue to control the company.
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