Elon Musk and Adam Neumann found themselves in an unlikely exchange on X today, after Musk took a swipe at Masayoshi Son over a decision he made nearly a decade ago — and Neumann, the man on the other side of that decision, couldn’t resist firing back.
The exchange started after SoftBank disclosed a $3.7 billion hit tied to canceled gas turbine orders, with WSJ Business News posting that Son’s SoftBank had reserved enough gas turbines to power six Hoover Dams, costing the company billions in losses. Katie Miller resurfaced Musk’s earlier claim that SoftBank was “defaulting on their turbine orders” by replying to the thread with just two words: “Taps the sign.”
Musk then used the moment to bring up an old grudge, writing that he remembered when Son passed up a chance to put $12 billion into Tesla for a quarter of the company — money that would have helped Musk take Tesla private — and instead invested it in WeWork. He summed up Son’s call in one line: “That was dumb.”
That was all the opening Neumann needed. The WeWork co-founder, who famously received massive SoftBank backing before the company’s valuation collapsed and he exited following a chaotic attempted IPO, responded with a meme of himself pointing and wearing sunglasses in front of a WeWork sign, captioned telling Musk that maybe he needs to work on his pitch.
The jab lands as a reminder of just how differently the two founders’ SoftBank-backed bets have aged. Son’s WeWork investment became one of the most infamous startup blowups in recent memory, while Tesla, which Musk never did take private, has gone on to become one of the most valuable companies in the world. Son has previously admitted that WeWork was among the worst calls of his investing career, even as he’s continued making outsized, high-conviction bets ever since — turbines included.