Musk’s cagey in love
Glosses over crash. Twit guys twitchy
ELON Musk watched one of his rockets crash over Cape Canaveral less than a week and a half ago— but on Wednesday morning, here, he looked remarkably serene at the Allen & Co. mogulfest — strolling to breakfast hand in hand with his wife, Talulah Riley, the British actress. “I don’t want to overplay the negatives,” Musk told The Post with a smile when asked about the Space X Falcon 9 rocket explosion on June 28.
Asked whether he didn’t have more important things to do than attend this annual summer camp for billionaires, as the event is known, Musk gave a chuckle and said he’d be leaving early on Thursday.
“The standard line is that we’re doing this for the kids,” Musk said.
Riley, who appeared to be equally blissful with Musk despite reports about their onagain, offagain marriage, gamely chimed in to confirm that this was, indeed, a kids’ vacation.
“The kids have a lot of friends here,” Riley said.
Musk’s calm demeanor and easy smile stood in contrast to that of fellow PayPal alum Reid Hoffman, who was slated to interview Musk in a private function after breakfast on Wednesday.
“Can’t talk about it until after I do the interview,” the LinkedIn chairman said gruffly when asked what questions he had cooking for Musk.
Will Twitter put itself on the block?
That’s the major question at Allen & Co.’ s media conference — and it’s a query those Twitter execs attending the media merger meeting really don’t want to answer.
Anthony Noto, Twitter’s financial chief, was the only officer of the microblogging company willing to address the question when approached by The Post on Wednesday.
Asked if the company had hired an investment bank to explore a possible sale of the company, Noto told The Post: “We haven’t hired anybody.”
He quickly added: “We haven’t hired a bank.”
Noto promptly scooted off, but presumably he was alluding to the fact that Twitter last month hired executive search firm Spencer Stuart to find a replacement for ousted Chief Executive Dick Costolo.
Costolo, who remains on Twitter’s board, had less to say about the company’s future. The 51yearold former standup comedian furrowed his brow and remained silent for a few seconds when asked whether Twitter was exploring a sale.
“I can’t talk about any of that stuff,” Costolo finally said.
A few minutes later, interim CEO Jack Dorsey came by in his closely trimmed beard. Was this a sign that he’s getting serious about his official duties?
“I’m very excited about what’s in store for the company,” Dorsey said. Asked, too, about rumors that Twitter is exploring a sale, Dorsey fell into a Zenlike trance for a moment, his wispy beard enhancing his chilledout guru vibe.
“No comment,” Dorsey said.