No, Elon Musk didn’t say he’s ‘officially buying McDonald’s’


McDonald's Quarter pounder
A McDonald's Quarter Pounder, left, and Double Quarter Pound burger is shown with fresh beef in Atlanta on March 6, 2018. (AP)

Billionaire Elon Musk owns X and also serves as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. Now, a recent Facebook post claims he’s about to “dip his toes into fast food” by buying up the golden arches. 

“Musk has officially announced: ‘I am officially buying McDonald’s,’” a narrator says in a video shared in an Oct. 30 Facebook post.

The video’s caption says: “Elon Musk: ‘I am officially buying McDonald’s.” 

But the video itself offers no evidence to support the claim. 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

The video discusses McDonald’s as a company and muses about why Musk would be interested in acquiring it. But as far as we can tell, he’s not. 

We looked for but found no credible evidence, such as news reports, public statements or press releases, to corroborate the claim in this post. 

Back in 2022, Musk posted on what was then Twitter that if McDonald’s accepted the digital cryptocurrency Dogecoin, Msuk would “eat a Happy Meal on TV.”

McDonald’s responded with a purple coin bearing the face of one of its characters, Grimace, and said: “Only if @tesla accepts grimacecoin.”

We rate claims Musk said he’s buying McDonald’s False.

 

Truth-o-meter Ruling

False

IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT

  • This claim is unfounded.

Statement

“Elon Musk: ‘I am officially buying McDonald’s.”

Context

a Facebook post

Speaker/Target

Targets: Elon Musk

Statement Date

October 30, 2024
Our Sources

Facebook post, Oct. 30, 2024

Inc., A Perfect Response From McDonald’s to Elon Musk’s Offer to Eat a Happy Meal on TV (and More Lessons Learned From 2022), Dec. 28, 2022

Translations

Language: en

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