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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Your support makes all the difference.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.
Mr Musk also said that he wanted to increase the number of people using Twitter.
“Right now it’s sort of niche. I want a much bigger percentage of the country to be on it, engaging in dialogue,” said Mr Musk, adding that it should be “as broadly inclusive as possible, where ideally most of America is on it and talking”.
Elon Musk could take Twitter public again
The billionaire has reportedly said he plans to stage an initial public offering of Twitter in as little as three years of buying it, according to the Wall Street Journal, in order to help garner funds for his purchase.
Private-equity firms often take companies private with the aim to make changes before taking them public again, and as such Mr Musk’s plan could help assure investors of Twitter’s future operations and profitability – although Mr Musk has not been specific about his plans.
Mr Musk reportedly suggested that websites should pay Twitter for embedding tweets in order to increase revenue for the social media service, although reports from the meeting said the Tesla and SpaceX chief was “thin on detail”.
Elon Musk has also said a potential mass resignation of Twitter employees is “fine” following his purchase of the social media company.
Mr Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion last week, after a confusing series of events that made him the company’s largest shareholder and future board member, before stepping down from the board seat and offering to buy the company outright.
“It’s a free country,” Mr Musk told reporters at the Met Gala on Monday.
“Certainly if anyone doesn’t feel comfortable with that, they will on their own accord go somewhere else. That’s fine,” he said.
Mr Musk has already publically criticised Twitter employees, including chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, despite a clause in the deal that he cannot “disparage” the company or its representatives.
Elon Musk summoned to UK parliament to explain plans for Twitter
The billionaire bought the influential social network for $44 billion USD last month and has said he could change some of its policies.
Now the chair of the Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee has written to the Tesla boss to ask him to attend a hearing "in the near future"..
In a letter dated 29 April Tory MP Julian Knight said: "My committee has noted your proposed acquisition of Twitter and we are interested in the developments you propose."
Mr Knight said the committee was particularly interested in Mr Musk's plan to roll out verification for all users, which he said "echoes our calls on the UK government as part of proposed legislation, which we hope will restore the UK's public trust in digital platforms".
The chair added: "I therefore wish to take this opportunity to invite you to speak before our committee and discuss your proposals in more depth.
"I know you have expressed your wish that critics remain on Twitter and this may present and opportunity to address any critiques in public."
Elon Musk toys with idea of possible fees on Twitter
“Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users,” he tweeted.
Mr Musk made the prediction after earlier tweeting, “Ultimately, the downfall of the Freemasons was giving away their stonecutting services for nothing.”
Twitter’s board last week accepted Mr Musk’s offer of $54.20 per share in cash for total control of the company, that he has said he will take private.
Elon Musk sells $8.5bn in Tesla shares
The entrepreneur sold $8.5bn worth of his shares in the electric vehicle manufacturer after Twitter accepted his bid for the platform, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Mr Musk sold $3.3bn worth of Tesla stock on Tuesday and another $654m on Wednesday, according to Teslarati.com.
On Friday morning, SEC filings showed that Mr Musk has sold another $4.5bn worth of shares as he raised the money needed to buy Twitter for $44bn.
In a subsequent tweet, Mr Musk said the “far left hates everyone, themselves included” but added that he is also “no fan of the far right”.
It comes after Mr Musk has been replying to notiorious right-wing commentators including Mike Cernovich, and sharing memes that feature right-wing YouTuber Tim Pool.
Mr Musk had previously said that he “strongly supported Obama for President, but today’s Democratic Party has been hijacked by extremists”
Elon Musk rages against Democrats
Elon Musk has sent a series of tweets attacking the Biden administration and saying the party has been ‘hijacked by extremists’.
It comes after the Department of Homeland Security is stepping up an effort to counter disinformation by setting up a Disinformation Governance Board.
Mr Musk said the new board was “messed up” in reply to a tweet that called it the ‘Ministry of Truth’, a reference to George Orwell’s 1984.
Elon Musk wants to start charging for tweets - report
Elon Musk has reportedly made some suggestions on how Twitter could be improved under his ownership, including charging publishers to embed tweets in articles.
As numerous people have immediately pointed out on Twitter, this could presumably be bypassed just by taking a screenshot of the tweet and uploading it as an image.
Other changes include replacing current CEO Parag Agrawal with someone new, with the successor already apparently lined up.
You can read the full story here:
Elon Musk reportedly wants to start charging for tweets
Plan is reportedly ‘thin on detail’ as Musk looks to attract lenders to buy the social media giant
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