Who helped Musk buy Twitter
Musk acquired Twitter with financial support from non-US investors, including Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud, Qatar Holding, which is part of the Qatar Investment Authority, and Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange platform, the whose holding company is registered in the Cayman Islands
On October 28, a few hours before the deadline set by the judge, Elon Musk finalized the $ 44 billion purchase of the social platform, the final chapter of the troubled Twitter acquisition procedure marked by a protracted legal dispute.
Yesterday the board of the social network was canceled: Elon Musk is now the sole director. His first move as a head of the company, now, could be in the sign of layoffs. According to the Washington Post, which cites sources close to the company, a substantial cut in staff, equal to 25%, is already ready.
Musk pledged to provide $ 46.5 billion in equity and debt financing for the acquisition, which covered the $ 44 billion price tag and closing costs.
To finance the Twitter acquisition, the richest man in the world sold $ 15.3 billion of his Tesla stock: $ 8.4 billion in April and $ 6.9 billion (good) in August. , recalls The Verge . Musk secured a $ 13 billion funding package, one of the largest ever organized on Wall Street, put together by a group of banks led by Morgan Stanley.
However, according to press reports, there is an element of the agreement that could trigger a revision of the CFIUS. Namely the Foreign Investment Committee, a federal agency tasked with examining US asset acquisitions by foreign buyers.
In fact, there is the presence of foreign investors in the Musk consortium. The group includes Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, Binance Holdings Ltd, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, whose holding company is registered in the Cayman Islands and the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar.
And the CFIUS also has the power to review the agreements concluded, Bloomberg specifies.
THE LOANS OF THE BANKS LEADED BY MORGAN STANLEY
The American businessman has secured around $ 13 billion in loans from a pool of banks. Morgan Stanley provided the major commitment, followed by Bank of America Corp., Barclays Plc and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.
THE ROPE BEHIND ELON MUSK'S PURCHASE OF TWITTER
Musk has since raised more than $ 7 billion in equity commitments from an unusual mix of investors, including Silicon Valley billionaire Larry Ellison and venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, Reuters reports.
But among the investors there is also the aforementioned Binance Holding founded in Shanghai by the Chinese businessman Changpeng Zhao and registered in the Cayman Islands.
Additionally, Tesla's boss has also addressed Middle Eastern supporters such as QIA, the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, and Saudi investor Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al Saud.
PROBLEMS IN SIGHT?
One element of Musk's $ 44 billion Twitter deal that could trigger a CFIUS review is the presence of foreign investors in Musk's consortium, Bloomberg said.
"These are subjects who represent countries in lukewarm relations with the US, if not openly hostile, and therefore the government would have reason to investigate if it is only legitimate economic interests, or if there are other unconfessable reasons behind it" comments Affari & Finanza the Republic supplement.
THE COMMENT OF THE EXPERTS
But it could be a lot of ado about nothing.
Last week in the Guardian , Howard Fischer, a partner at New York law firm Moses & Singer, said he didn't expect a CFIUS investigation to thwart the Twitter deal.
"I am skeptical that the CFIUS revision will be used to significantly stop or pause the deal," Fischer commented. "Musk would argue that he is being punished for his speech, not for the presence of foreign investors in the deal, especially given the relatively small size of that reported foreign investment."
MR MUSK'S STRATEGY
And on Thursday Musk explained that he wanted to buy Twitter driven by "love" and the desire to "help humanity". "I buy Twitter because it is important for the future of civilization to have a digital common square where a wide range of ideas can be discussed in a healthy way without resorting to violence," he said, warning of the current danger of social media being divided into “Right or left resonance chambers that generate more hatred and divide the country. In relentlessly searching for clicks, traditional media have fueled extremes. This is why I buy Twitter. Not because it's easy, not because it makes money. I do this to try to help the humanity I love. And I do it with humility, recognizing that, despite the best efforts, there is a real possibility of failure "in trying to hit the targets, added the billionaire, also trying to reassure his intentions.
DELISTING BEGINS
In the meantime, the delisting of Twitter from Wall Street (expected on November 8) has been confirmed, after the formalization of the purchase of the platform by Elon Musk.
Now Musk must figure out how to make Twitter worth more than $ 44 billion, a price that everyone agrees is too high in October 2022, so that he can eventually find a buyer or go public without suffering more financial or reputational damage, Axios comments. .
THE DISMISSAL AT THE NEW YORK TIMES
Finally, the founding tycoon of Tesla and SpaceX promptly fired the top management of the company including CEO Parag Agrawal. The other torpedoes are chief financial officer Ned Segal, head of legal affairs and policy Vijaya Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett.
However, today Elon Musk denied an article in the New York Times newspaper that the businessman intends to lay off some of the employees before tomorrow, November 1, to avoid paying their next salaries. Musk replied on Twitter, calling the contents of the article "fake". Twitter has a total of about 7,500 employees, and in recent days the US press has anticipated the possible dismissal of half of the latter.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/chi-ha-aiutato-musk-a-comprare-twitter/ on Tue, 01 Nov 2022 07:29:15 +0000.