Elon Musk Said to Inform Co-Investors That He Plans to Close Twitter Deal by Friday

Elon Musk has notified co-investors who committed to help fund his $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3.6 lakh crore) acquisition of Twitter that he plans to close his buyout of the social media firm by Friday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Equity investors, including Sequoia Capital, Binance, Qatar Investment Authority, and others have received the requisite paperwork for the financing commitment from Musk’s lawyers, the source added.

The move is the clearest sign yet that Musk plans to comply with a Delaware court judge’s deadline to complete the transaction by Friday.

The banks that committed to fund Musk’s buyout of Twitter have finished putting together the final debt financing agreement and are in the process of signing the necessary documents, according to a Bloomberg News report.

Musk pledged to close the deal on a video conference call on Monday with bankers who are helping fund the deal, according to the report.

Twitter declined to comment. Musk’s lawyers were not immediately available for comment.

Twitter shares jumped on the news and were trading up 3 percent at $52.95 (roughly Rs. 4,500) on Tuesday, closer to Musk’s offer price of $54.20.

Musk has pledged to provide $46.5 billion (roughly Rs. 3.8 lakh crore) in equity and debt financing for the acquisition, which covers the $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3.6 lakh crore) price tag and closing costs.

Banks, including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, have committed to provide $13 billion (roughly Rs. 1 lakh crore) of debt financing to support the deal.

Equity investors, including Oracle Corp co-founder Larry Ellison and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, will pitch in with $7.1 billion (roughly Rs. 59,000 crore).

The closure of the deal will put to rest months of speculation that the erratic entrepreneur would abandon the takeover.

Musk has touted himself as an advocate of free speech and has been critical of Twitter’s approach to monitoring violent or hateful content, which has led to bans on many prominent conservative voices.

© Thomson Reuters 2022