Elon Musk visits Twitter as $44 billion deal completes

Elon Musk Looks like he’s on his way to shutting down his blockbuster A $44 billion deal to buy Twitter.

Mr. Musk, who runs Tesla and SpaceX, visited Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters on Wednesday and tweeted a nine-second video of himself smiling and carrying a porcelain basin into the building.

“Twitter HQ entry – let this sink in!” he wrote.

Musk, 51, the world’s richest man, faces a deadline on Friday to complete his purchase of Twitter, according to a court ruling. He is expected to attend a variety of meetings this week at the social media company, said three Twitter employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity. He is also scheduled to address Twitter employees Friday, according to employees and an internal memo from Leslie Berland, the company’s chief marketing officer.

A Twitter spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Musk’s appearance in Twitter’s offices indicates that he plans to close the deal after a few long and tumultuous months. Billionair I agreed to buy Twitter in April. Within weeks, he seemed to regret his decision and tried to undo. Twitter sued him to force him to stick to the deal, and the case is due to go to trial this month. Then Mr. Musk changed his mind again and committed himself to buying. A Delaware Chancery District Court judge in the case adjourned the trial and set an Oct. 28 deadline to complete the deal.

Mr. Musk has promised to transform Twitter by making it private, laying off workers and sponsoring the subscription business. He has said he is a “pro-freedom of speech” and wants to relax the rules around moderating content on the service, including Reversing the ban on former President Donald J Trump from the platform. He added that Twitter should become “apply everything” Similar to WeChat, a Chinese platform that offers social media, instant messaging, and mobile payments.

Musk has spent the past three weeks finalizing the terms of his financing for the deal, which includes $12.5 billion in debt from Wall Street banks. Investment banks usually sell the debt they arrange for such deals to reduce the risks on their balance sheets. But given the fast pace at which Mr. Musk is now racing to close the deal, as well Market tension for such debtInstead, two people familiar with the situation said, they are keeping that debt on their balance sheets, at least for now.

With so much uncertainty swirling around the deal, some of Twitter’s 7,500 employees were nervous. last week , The company sought to allay employee concerns Following reports that Mr. Musk planned to lay off up to 75 per cent of them. Twitter told workers that the current management had no plans to lay off workers but could make no promises about what Mr Musk might do.

Employees who hope to remain at the company under Mr Musk have also expressed concern that their compensation may change. Under the terms of his agreement to buy Twitter, Mr. Musk agreed to replace stock options granted to employees with regularly scheduled cash bonuses. But as Mr. Musk has fluctuated with the logistics of other deals, some employees feared the billionaire might not honor his compensation obligations.

Mr. Musk last spoke with Twitter staff during a question-and-answer session in June.

said in That meeting.

Lauren Hirsch Contribute to the preparation of reports.