Will close Twitter deal tomorrow: Elon Musk informs co-investors

BENGALURU: Elon Musk has notified co-investors who committed to help fund his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc 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, as per a 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% at $52.95 on Tuesday, closer to Musk’s offer price of $54.20. Musk has pledged to provide $46.5 billion in equity and debt financing for the acquisition, which covers the $44 billion price tag and closing costs.

Banks, including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp, have committed to provide $13 billion 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. 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.