Tesla CEO Elon Musk has paid a visit to Twitter’s headquarters ahead of the deadline to close his deal to buy the company, posting a video of himself in the company’s San Francisco lobby carrying a sink, as per The Guardian.
He also updated his Twitter profile to call himself “Chief Twit” and put his location as Twitter HQ.
Musk’s Social Network Purchase
The court gave Musk until Friday (October 28) to close an agreement to get the company, which would end months of turmoil after Elon agreed to purchase the social media app, then later tried to back out.
Despite Elon Musk’s entry to headquarters, it was unclear whether his Twitter purchase had been finalized yet. The social network confirmed to the Associated Press that Elon Musk’s video tweet was real, however, did not comment further.
Reuters reported that Musk notified investors involved in the deal that he plans to finalize his acquisition by the deadline.
In addition, one of Musk’s most significant challenges in closing the deal was keeping in place the financing pledged over six months ago.
A group of banks, such as Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, signed on earlier this year to loan $12.5 billion of the money the CEO needed to buy Twitter and to take it privately.
Solid contracts with Musk bound the banks to the financing, although the economy and debt markets’ changes since April have presumably made the terms less appealing. Musk even stated his investment group would acquire Twitter for more than it’s worth.
His teasing with Twitter purchase appeared to start in late March. That is when Twitter revealed he contacted members of its board, including the co-founder Jack Dorsey, and told them he was buying up shares and was interested in either joining the board, taking Twitter private or starting a competitor.
Then, on April 4, he presented in a regulatory filing that he became the company’s largest shareholder after obtaining a 9% stake worth about $3 billion.
At first, Twitter offered Musk a place on its board. However, six days later, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted that Musk would not join the board after all. Then his bid to purchase the company quickly followed.
When the Tesla CEO agreed to buy Twitter, he slipped a “420” marijuana reference into his $54.20 per share price.
He sold approximately $15 billion worth of shares in Tesla to back the purchase, then pulled commitments for billions more from a group of investors, including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
Musk’s offer was met with confusion and a loss of morale inside the Twitter company, especially when Musk publicly criticized one of Twitter’s top lawyers involved in the content-moderation decisions.
In July, Musk suddenly turned course, saying he was abandoning his bid, claiming that the company was not frank about its issue with fake accounts he called “spam bots.”
Twitter sued Elon Musk in Delaware chancery court to get the deal through, accusing him of making up an excuse to cover buyer’s remorse.
Two weeks before the five-day trial was scheduled, Musk changed his mind once more, stating that he wanted to complete the deal after all.
It is worth noting that he also wants to build Super App. He said that acquiring Twitter would speed up the path for the X path.
Twitter Employee Cut Off
Meanwhile, morale at the company seems to be dropping amid news that the billionaire plans to cut 75% of Twitter employees if he takes over.
Additionally, in a report compiled by Greg Larkin and Elizabeth Gafford through the invitation-only business membership network Punks and Pinstripes, about 530 employees have left the company in the last three months.
The numbers show a 60% increase in the number of workers that left the company in the last quarter.
Moreover, almost 30% of them went to work for Google or Meta, Business Insider reports. Others went on to work at companies like Pinterest, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
“The bottom line here is that the uncertainty being generated by the fight between Elon Musk and Twitter is pushing a lot of their top talent to other social media platforms … These people have options as to where they can go and they’re going,” Larkin told Business Insider.
