Ari Emanuel tried to broker Elon Musk-Twitter settlement: report

Hollywood super-agent and William Morris Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel reportedly tried to broker a deal between Elon Musk and Twitter’s board of directors to settle their heated legal battle over a nixed $44 billion takeover.

Emanuel – who was spotted partying with a shirtless Musk aboard a yacht off Mykonos over the summer – contacted Twitter board member Egon Durban within the last few weeks to recommend the two sides reach a settlement before their case goes to trial, a report said on Friday.

Durban relayed details about his talks with Emanuel to Twitter’s other board members, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Twitter declined comment. Musk’s team did not immediately return The Post’s calls. The Post also reached out to Endeavor for comment on the report.

Twitter’s stock was up about 3% to roughly $44 per share in late trading Friday.

It’s unclear what prompted Emanuel to get involved in the high-stakes legal battle or whether his overtures yielded any progress toward a settlement, according to Bloomberg.

Emanuel is closely linked to Durban, who is also a member of Endeavor Group Holdings’ board of directors. Musk was a board member at Endeavor until he stepped down earlier this year.

Musk caused a stir in July when he was photographed hanging out with Emanuel and his wife Sarah Staudinger on the luxury yacht. Photos of the vacation buddies sparked countless memes and even led Musk to declare it was time for him to get back in shape.

Emanuel’s apparent back-channel efforts emerged just weeks before the highly anticipated trial is slated to kick off on Oct. 17.

“It makes me think Elon doesn’t have some kind of stellar ace for the trial,” a hedge fund manager closely following the situation told The Post. “I’d have to presume Ari is not going rogue here.”

Twitter is seeking a court order that would force Musk to buy Twitter along the originally-agreed sale terms of $54.20 per share, or about $44 billion.

Meanwhile, Musk is attempting to back out of the deal entirely. His legal team has cited concerns about spam bots within Twitter’s user base and accused company representatives of withhold critical information related to that issue.

Musk’s legal team and Twitter are still sparring over key deposition dates ahead of the trial. A court filing this week said Musk would be deposed by Twitter’s lawyers on Oct. 6 and 7, though a source told The Post the date has yet to be finalized.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal is also slated to be deposed prior to the trial. He withdrew from a scheduled deposition on Monday due to unspecified personal reasons.

The delayed depositions sparked rampant speculation that the two sides were in settlement talks, but Twitter shares tanked after The Post reported a source close to the situation said no settlement was immediately expected.

Josh Kosman contributed reporting.