Elon Musk in Twitter HQ, May Close the $44bn Deal on Friday

On Wednesday, Elon Musk tweeted a video of himself entering Twitter headquarters with what appears to be a sink in his hands.

The video, which he captioned “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!”, is believed to be a suggestion that he would be closing the Twitter deal on or before the Friday deadline.

Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022

Musk has been in a dogfight with Twitter since he made his $44 billion acquisition bid for the social media platform earlier this year. The world richest man had in July, informed Twitter that he’s pulling out of the deal due to suspected inaccuracies in the number of users – which he said majority is made up of bots.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO agreed to pay as much as $54.20 per share in April, way above the price of Twitter shares at that time. His attempt to walkout of the deal forced Twitter to file a lawsuit to compel him to finish what he started. Musk’s fake accounts claim was believed to be an excuse the billionaire was going to use to get a cheaper deal. But he argued that not knowing the actual number of users left the business’s true market value in doubt.

However, earlier this month, Musk had told Twitter that he would proceed with the deal on the agreed price, setting up a potential out of court settlement for the parties.

Besides sharing the video of himself with a sink at Twitter HQ, the 51-year old also changed his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit”, suggesting his new position as the owner of the social media company.

One of Musk’s biggest challenges to the deal was funding. He had sold $7bn worth of Tesla stock in August to raise money to complete the acquisition, but his backers started to rethink the deal. Many believe that Twitter was overvalued.

But once again, his partners have rekindled their interest in the deal, after Musk tweeted earlier this month that Twitter will serve as a preamble to his X ‘everything’ app.

Bloomberg reported that the banks involved in the takeover have finished putting together the final credit agreement and are in the process of signing the documentation of the $46.5bn in equity and debt financing for the takeover. Musk reportedly told them that he plans to close the deal on Friday.

A number of banks, including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, are said to have committed $13bn in debt financing to support the deal.  Under the deal, equity investors, including Oracle Corp co-founder Larry Ellison and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, will contribute $7.1bn.

Tesla shares have taken a hit since April when Musk made his offer, losing over $400 billion. Musk who had been counting on the testimony of a whistleblower – former Twitter engineer who had accused the company of gross misconducts – especially on security and data management, was hit with major setbacks after court rejected his pleas, including his prayer for a delayed trial.

A Delaware Chancery Court judge had given Musk until Oct. 28 to close his acquisition of Twitter if he wants to avoid a trial.

Twitter is Musk’s preferred social media platform. In his letter to the company’s shareholders, he promised to take the company private, make it more profitable if they approve his offer. Musk’s U-turn on the deal pushed Twitter stocks from $44 per share on April 14 to $32 in July. The report that he is back on the deal has seen Twitter share price jump to $53.32, where it is currently trading.