Elon Musk posted a video on Wednesday and stopped by Twitter headquarters ahead of Friday’s deadline to sign a deal to buy the company for $44 billion.
Musk has changed his Twitter profile o Refers to himself as “Chief Twit” and refers to his location as Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters. He once thought the building should be closed and turned into a shelter for the homeless because so few employees come to the office under his company’s remote work policy. A video showed him carrying a sink through the lobby area.
“Enter Twitter HQ – Let’s sink!” he tweeted.
A Chancery court in Delaware had given both sides until they could close a deal on Friday or face a trial in November that could end the same outcome.
Despite Musk’s flashy entry into the headquarters, it wasn’t clear if his acquisition of Twitter was finalized. Twitter confirmed the authenticity of Musk’s video tweet, but declined to comment further. Musk’s lead attorney, Alex Spiro, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Robert Anderson, a law professor at Pepperdine University, said he fully expects the deal to close before Friday’s deadline, but didn’t say much about Musk’s video.
“I think he just visited headquarters. I don’t see anything unusual other than he brought the sink,” Anderson said.
Musk was scheduled to visit Twitter this week, but is expected to return again on Friday if the deal goes through, according to an internal memo cited in a Bloomberg News report.
The Washington Post reported last week that Musk told prospective investors that he plans to cut three-quarters of Twitter’s 7,500 employees when he becomes the company’s owner. The newspaper cited documents and unnamed sources familiar with the deliberations.
One of Musk’s biggest hurdles in closing the deal was keeping the funding promised about six months ago.
Banking groups including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America signed a deal earlier this year to finance the $12.5 billion Musk needed to buy Twitter and take it private. A solid deal with Musk got banks to lend, but changes in the economy and bond markets since April have likely made the terms less attractive. Musk even said his investment group would buy Twitter for more than it’s worth.
It’s less clear what’s going on with the billions of dollars pledged to Musk by investors taking ownership of Twitter.Musk’s initial equity partners include Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. and others, ranging from like-minded billionaire tech friends on Twitter’s future to funds controlled by royal families in the Middle East.
The more equity investors participate in the deal, the less money Musk himself has to bear. Most of his wealth is tied to shares in Tesla, the electric car company he runs. Since April, he has sold Tesla shares worth more than $15 billion, presumably to pay for his share. More sales could come.
Musk, 51, has shared few specific details about his plans for the social media platform. Since agreeing to buy the company in April, he’s been promoting free speech and mocking spambots, but what he actually wants to do remains a mystery.
Musk’s tweets and statements were cryptic, but technology analysts believe Musk is using Twitter to allow users to video chat, message, stream videos, scan barcodes and make payments. I’m guessing you want to reproduce the version of the WeChat service of .
He elaborated a bit more at Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting in August, telling an audience gathered at a factory near Austin, Texas, that he’s a frequent Twitter user and knows his products well. I think I know very well where to direct the engineering team to fundamentally improve Twitter,” he said.
Cheating on Musk’s Twitter Acquisition I think it started in late MarchAt that time, Twitter reached out to members of its board of directors, including co-founder Jack Dorsey, who said they were buying shares and asked them to join the board, take Twitter private, or start a competitor. I told him I was interested in it.
Then, on April 4, he revealed in a regulatory filing that he had become the company’s largest shareholder after acquiring a 9% stake worth about $3 billion.
Twitter initially offered Musk a seat on its board of directors. However, after 6 days, CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted After all, Musk won’t be on the board. His bid to buy the company soon followed.
Within Twitter, Musk’s offer was met with confusion and demoralization. Especially after Musk publicly criticized one of his Twitter’s top lawyers for being involved in his moderation decisions.
In July, Musk abruptly reversed course, announcing that he was abandoning the Twitter acquisition. Why he said: Twitter hasn’t been outspoken about the issue of fake accounts, which he called “spambots.” Twitter sued Musk in Delaware’s Chancery Court to coerce the deal. Two weeks before the five-day trial was due to start, Musk changed his mind again and said he wanted to complete his contract after all.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
