Elon Musk posts video of himself strolling into Twitter HQ

SAN FRANCISCO: Elon Musk posted video Wednesday showing him strolling into Twitter headquarters ahead of a Friday deadline to close his $44 billion deal to buy the company.

Musk also changed his Twitter profile to refer to himself as “Chief Twit” and his location as Twitter headquarters, which is based in San Francisco. The video showed him carrying a sink through a lobby area.

“Entering Twitter HQ - let that sink in!” he tweeted.

A court has given Musk until Friday to close his April agreement to acquire the company after he earlier tried to back out of the deal. Neither Musk nor Twitter has said if the deal is closed yet.

Despite Musk’s splashy entry to headquarters, it wasn’t clear yet whether his purchase of Twitter had been finalised.

Twitter confirmed that Musk’s video tweet was real but wouldn’t comment further. Alex Spiro, Musk’s lead lawyer, didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Musk himself tweeted saying “I wanted to reach out personally to share my motivation in acquiring Twitter. There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter and what I think about advertising. Most of it has been wrong. The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilisation to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence. There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.

In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fuelled and catered to those polarised extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost.”

A news report last week said Musk told prospective investors that he plans to cut three quarters of Twitter’s 7,500 workers when he becomes owner of the company. The report cited documents and unnamed sources familiar with the deliberation. One of Musk’s biggest obstacles to closing the deal was keeping in place the financing pledged roughly six months ago.

A group of banks, including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, signed on earlier this year to loan $12.5 billion of the money Musk needed to buy Twitter and take it private.

Solid contracts with Musk bound the banks to the financing, although changes in the economy and debt markets since April have likely made the terms less attractive.