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.
Elon Musk sells $4.8bn of Tesla stock
In an apparent bid to finance his Twitter takeover, Elon Musk has sold 5.3 million shares of Tesla for roughly $4.8 billion, filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have revealed.
It represents just 3. per cent of the Tesla shares he held prior to the sale, and Musk says he won’t be selling any more Tesla shares at this stage.
Twitter revenue reaches $1.2bn and daily users increase to 229m amid Elon Musk takeover
ICYMI: Twitter’s revenue reached $1.2bn and daily users increased to 229 million amid Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media company.
On Thursday, Twitter posted its quarterly earnings – $513m – days after the company agreed to be sold to the billionaire.
In the three months to March of this year, revenue rose 16 per cent, reaching $1.2bn, compared to the same period last year.
Gustaf Kilander has the story.
Twitter revenue and daily users increase amid Elon Musk takeover
Users increase by about 14 million compared to previous quarter, social media company announces
Elon Musk jokes about buying Coca-Cola, putting ‘cocaine’ back in the popular drink
ICYMI: Prospective Twitter owner Elon Musk is famous for peppering his highly active account on the platform with lighthearted jests alongside posts sharing serious stock acquisitions.
Now the billionaire entrepreneur, in the wake of agreeing to buy Twitter for $44bn, has stirred up his followers by posting a tweet that has led many to draw a blank: is he seriously considering buying Coca-Cola or just trolling his more than 80 million followers?
US market surges on news of Facebook parent Meta’s results despite fears over GDP figures
Wall Street saw technology and growth stocks surge on Thursday after strong earnings from Facebook’s parent company Meta allayed concerns the US economy contracted in the first quarter of 2022.
As of 3pm, the markets were enjoying their best day since May 2020, with all three major indexes enjoying a sustained boost.
Bevan Hurley has the details.
US market surges on news of Facebook parent Meta’s results despite recession fears
Major indexes clawed back some of the stinging losses from tech sell-off on Thursday
Trump finally posts on his Truth Social platform – reviving one of his most famous phrases
The silence was never going to last.
Donald Trump has finally posted on his Truth Social app, the struggling Twitter rival he launched earlier this year, after an uncharacteristic monthslong quiet from the usually voluable former president.
Josh Marcus has the story.
Trump finally posts on Truth Social app – reviving one of his most famous phrases
Former president hadn’t posted on own app in months
Musk tweets meme on political change
ICYMI: The prospective new owner of Twitter posted a cartoon meme that appears to indicate his belief that it is actually the left-wing of American politics that has moved to the extreme since 2008, and not the right-wing.
The stick-figure cartoon suggests that people with centrist views in 2008, labelled “me” in the cartoon, are now to the right because of this change.
Marjorie Taylor Greene says she wants to meet with Elon Musk to discuss Twitter bans
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said that she hoped that she could meet with Tesla chief executive Elon Musk amid news that he has acquired Twitter.
The right-wing congresswoman from Georgia made the remarks during a news conference in front of the Capitol when introducing legislation that would abolish Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which says that service providers cannot be treated as a publisher or or speaker of information provided by another provider.
Marjorie Taylor Greene says she wants to meet with Elon Musk
Comes amid news the Tesla titan will acquire platform for $44bn
Self-proclaimed ‘socialist’ to ‘red pill’ anti-lockdown crusader: What are Elon Musk’s politics?
ICYMI: The Tesla and SpaceX tycoon has donated to both parties and attacked everyone from Joe Biden through Donald Trump to trade unions and ‘pronouns’, but underneath it all there is a consistent ideology, writes Io Dodds.
Twitter: Will Elon Musk actually buy social media platform for $44bn?
Elon Musk has become the world’s richest person, and one of the business world’s most polarising figures on the back of the staggering commercial success of Tesla and engineering brilliance of SpaceX.
And with his $44bn offer for Twitter having been accepted by the social media’s platform’s board, Mr Musk will presumably add a third CEO role to his collection.
More details below.
Will Elon Musk actually buy Twitter for $44bn?
Tesla boss has already been accused of ‘bullying’ staff at platform in tweets
Tumblr gets new users as people leave Twitter
Matt Mullenwag, the founder of Automattic, which owns Tumblr, tweeted that Tumblr saw a 19% bump in new user registration in the wake of the news that Elon Musk was buying out the company
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