According to Business Insider, Elon Musk suggested on Friday that he was "open to" buying Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) after its recent collapse.
The Tesla CEO and Twitter owner indicated as much after the suggestion was made to him by Min-Liang Tan, who, according to Business Insider, is the "co-founder and CEO of Razer, a company that sells gaming computers."
"I think Twitter should buy SVB and become a digital bank," Min-Liang Tan wrote, to which Musk replied, "I'm open to the idea."
While there were many Twitter users who were also open to the idea of Musk buying SVB, others weren't - particularly if Musk would have to sell a bunch of Tesla stock to do so.
It was on Friday that SVB collapsed. Greg Becker, the chief executive of the SVB Financial Group, announced the collapse in a video that he sent out to employees.
In the video, Becker, "with an incredibly heavy heart," said:
I want to acknowledge how hard the last 48 hours have been on all of you. I care so much about all of you. It really is so incredibly difficult. I am trying to look past to focus on two things. 1.) I am focusing on you and thinking about the ultimate outcome of what this could be despite this incredibly difficult time. And 2.) I'm focusing on clients.
Fox Business reports that SVB, up until its close by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), was the "16th-largest bank in the U.S., marking the worst U.S. financial institution failure since the Great Recession 15 years ago."
SVB wasn't the only bank collapse.
On Sunday, the New York-based Signature Bank also collapsed. And, with $110 billion in assets, this is reported to be the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history.
After the two banks failed, the federal government decided to take action on Sunday.
The Associated Press reported:
In an effort to shore up confidence in the banking system, the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and FDIC said Sunday that all Silicon Valley Bank clients would be protected and able to access their money. They also announced steps that are intended to protect the bank’s customers and prevent additional bank runs.
This comes as many financial experts warned that dire consequences could result if the government does not take such action.
The government agencies' plan will allow SVB depositors to access their money.
Additionally, the Federal Reserve has announced an emergency program designed to prevent more bank collapses.
