Mars, birth rates, but no Twitter: Elon Musk captivates Sun Valley moguls

• Musk talked about colonising Mars and praising increasing birth rates on Earth.
• Allen & Co Sun Valley Conference is an off-the-record meeting of media and technology executives.
• Hollywood worried about how a worsening economy could affect their investments .

Elon Musk avoided bringing up the failed Twitter deal when he spoke to a group of businessmen on Saturday in Sun Valley, according to two sources who attended the conference.

According to the sources, Musk talked about colonising Mars and praising increasing birth rates on Earth the majority of the time in a lengthy chat. Musk, the CEO of both rocket manufacturer Space X and electric car manufacturer Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), has long argued in favour of building a society on Mars.

In response to a media story that claimed he had twins with a senior executive at his brain-chip start-up Neuralink, Musk earlier this week stated he would try his best to alleviate what he called “the underpopulation catastrophe.”

He discussed the dropping birth rates in developed nations, a topic he has widely covered on Twitter.

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Less than 24 hours after announcing he was cancelling his $44 billion proposal to acquire Twitter Inc., the multibillionaire businessman spoke on stage at the Allen & Co Sun Valley Conference, an annual meeting of media and technology executives in Idaho (TWTR.N).

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research firm created by Musk and several others, did the interview.

The Allen & Co Sun Valley Conference, an off-the-record event this week where the headline-making usually takes place away from prying eyes of the media, received a jolt from Musk’s visit.

One top media executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity before the interview, said, “It just sounds like an awful catastrophe.” The individual sets his own rules. I would detest being on Twitter, where you would have to take this man seriously.

Sun Valley is frequently covered like an athleisure version of the Met Gala, with photographers catching the visits of media moguls wearing fleece, and journalists noting power lunches at the Konditorei cafe on the premises.

One Hollywood power player expressed optimism on Friday that the Musk interview would spice up the conference’s dreary, academic tone.

Musk announced his intention to cancel the acquisition of Twitter in an eight-page letter that was submitted to Twitter by his attorneys a few hours later. In the document, which was sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission, it was claimed that Twitter had ignored repeated requests for information over the previous two months and had never asked for his permission before terminating two senior executives, among other business-impacting decisions.

Up until that moment, discussions in the media centred on Wall Street’s revision of its assessment of the streaming industry following Netflix Inc’s (NFLX.O) subscriber losses.

Hollywood, which has generally been immune to recessions, is reportedly now concerned about how a worsening economy could damage their multi-billion dollar investments in streaming services, according to one digital media executive.

The digital media executive stated, referring to customers quitting a service, that “for the first time, people are aware the economy does touch the entertainment business.” Wow, would people really pay for three of these things, people are now asking.

One CEO pointed out the obvious after Musk made his announcement: two conference attendees, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, could find Saturday’s remarks upsetting.

In response to Agrawal’s defence of how Twitter handles spam bots, Musk sent one of his final tweets to the CEO in the shape of a faeces emoji.

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