Elon Musk pledges to close Twitter acquisition by Oct. 28 deadline
Musk's lawyers have also sent paperwork to the $44B deal's equity investors in preparation for its closing
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Elon Musk has reportedly told bankers funding his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter that he plans to close the deal by Friday.
Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the banks, who are providing $12.5 billion in debt financing, have finished putting together a final credit agreement and are in the process of signing the paperwork. Banks backing the deal include Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Barclays.
Additionally, CNBC's David Faber tweeted that the deal's equity investors have received paperwork from Musk's lawyers to prepare for the deal's closing. The equity investors include Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Sequoia Capital, VyCapital, Andreessen Horowitz Capital Management, Qatar Holding and Brookfield Asset Management.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TWTR | NO DATA AVAILABLE | - | - | - |
Representatives for Twitter declined to comment. Representatives for Musk did not immediately return FOX Business' request for comment. As of the time of publication, Twitter shares are up 24% year to date.
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In April, Musk agreed to acquire the social media giant and take it private for $54.20 per share.
In July, he notified Twitter that he was planning to terminate the deal after claiming the company breached its obligations by misrepresenting the number of spam and fake accounts on the platform. Twitter maintains that spam and fake accounts make up less than 5% of its total users.
In response, Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk, accusing him of refusing to honor his obligations under the agreement because "the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests." Musk proceeded to file a countersuit, which was amended last month to include allegations from a whistleblower and former Twitter security chief Peiter "Mudge" Zatko.
FILE PHOTO: SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk smiles at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 13, 2019. | Reuters Photos
Earlier this month, Musk reversed course and said he would follow through on the deal's original terms, pending receipt of the deal's debt financing and provided that the Delaware Court of Chancery stayed Twitter's lawsuit and adjourned a legal trial that was slated for Oct. 17.
The court has given Musk until Oct. 28 to close the deal with Twitter. If the parties cannot reach an agreement, the trial will be moved to November.
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Musk expressed excitement over the pending acquisition during Tesla's third quarter earnings call last week.
"I think it's massive that this sort of languished for a long time, but has an incredible potential," Musk said. "Although, obviously, myself and the other investors are obviously overpaying for Twitter right now, the long-term potential for Twitter, in my view, is, in order of magnitude, greater than its current value."
The decision to buy Twitter could potentially accelerate the creation of X, an "everything app," by three to five years.
X.com was initially an online bank that Musk co-founded in 1999. It went on to merge with software company Confinity Inc. a year later and changed its name to PayPal. Online marketplace eBay bought the electronic payments provider for $1.5 billion in 2002 and, in 2015, PayPal was spun off into an independent company. In 2017, Musk bought the X.com domain name and relaunched the site.