Elon Musk - latest: Tesla boss ‘will become Twitter CEO when deal is complete’ as billionaires throw cash behind takeover
The billionaire has received $7.1 billion from supporters
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Elon Musk has received $7.1 billion from nearly two dozen investors including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and others to fund his purchase of Twitter.
The news comes after the billionaire sold nearly $8.5bn worth of Tesla stock.
Qatar - giving $375,000,000 - and Saudi Arabia will also be financing the deal.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of the board at Kingdom Holding Company and one of Twitter’s largest backers, said he is rolling over his current investment after initially criticising Mr Musk.
Mr Musk will pay $54.20 cash per share for the San Francisco-based company, which will now be taken private before the end of October.
The board announced it had reached a deal with Mr Musk on Monday, and that it represented a 38 per cent premium from Twitter’s closing price on 1 April, the day before the world’s richest person made his move for the company by announcing his nine per cent stake.
Mr Musk will likely make some significant changes to the social media platform, having made several hints in recent months about what his intentions are. It comes after Musk’s friend Dorsey stepped down as CEO and Parag Agrawal took over.
Changes could include a new CEO, worker layoffs and even monetising tweets by charging publishers to embed them, according to some reports.
You can follow all the latest news and developments right here.
Tesla boss slams critics who ‘fear free speech’ after $44bn Twitter bid accepted
Elon Musk has slammed those critics who ‘fear free speech’ after having his $44bn Twitter bid accepted by the social media company.
The Tesla CEO took to Twitter after staying off the platform for almost 24 hours in the wake of his takeover of the company being announced on Monday.
“The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all,” he tweeted.
Will Donald Trump come back?
When asked if former US president Donald Trump would be allowed back on Twitter following Elon Musk’s deal to buy the platform, the company’s chief executive Parag Agrawal said the question should be directed to the billionaire himself.
“Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important,” Mr Agrawal said.
Speaking at a company-wide meeting following the announcement, Mr Agrawal told Twitter staff that the future of the social media firm is uncertain after the deal with the Tesla chief closes, according to Reuters.
At the meeting, he was reportedly asked whether Mr Trump – who was banned from Twitter last year in the aftermath of the 6 January 2021 Capitol riots – would be allowed to return.
“Once the deal closes, we don’t know which direction the platform will go. It’s a question we should address with him [Musk],” Mr Agrawal replied.
Tesla share price slumps day after Musk buys Twitter
Tesla saw more than $100bn wiped offits market cap as the share price of the electic vehicle company slumped more than 10 per cent the day after Elon Musk bought Twitter.
At the time of this post on Tuesday, Tesla shares were down 11.5 per cent, or $114.82 to $883.20 per share.
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