As the deadline nears for Elon Musk to complete his deal to buy Twitter, all signs point toward Musk closing the acquisition and ending his Delaware court battle with the social media company.
Musk on Wednesday appeared at Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California. He tweeted a nine-second clip of himself carrying a sink through Twitter’s front doors. The clip is captioned, “Entering Twitter HQ − let that sink in!”
The billionaire Tesla CEO has until 5 p.m. Friday to close his $44 billion deal for Twitter, according to a judicial ruling. Otherwise, the case brought against Musk by Twitter will continue.
There are several indications the deal will close prior to the deadline. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Musk told the banks partially funding the deal — including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Barclays — that he plans to close by Friday. Musk secured $12.5 billion in bank loans, Bloomberg reported. The rest of the money will come from Musk and a slew of equity investors, including Marc Andreesen and Larry Ellison.
In a Tesla shareholder call last week, Musk said he was “excited” about Twitter, but admitted to “obviously overpaying” for it. According to an internal note reported by several outlets, Musk is scheduled to address Twitter employees on Friday.
Musk changed his profile on Twitter to describe himself as “Chief Twit” and to mark his location as “Twitter HQ.”
If the deal closes Friday, it would end a monthslong back-and-forth between Musk and Twitter that began with Musk’s unsolicited offer to buy the company in April.
Musk backed out of their agreement in July, saying that Twitter made “misleading representations” over the number of spam bots on the service. Twitter sued Musk days later for violating their agreement.
As Twitter is incorporated in Delaware, the case was scheduled to go to trial in Delaware Chancery Court on Oct. 17. Then Musk earlier this month flipped again and said he intended to close the deal at the terms he first offered ($54.20 per share).
BACKGROUND:Elon Musk and Twitter case in Delaware court could be over. How did we get here?
Judge Kathaleen McCormick, a Delaware native sworn in as Chancellor of the Chancery Court last year who has presided over the case from the beginning, delayed the trial and set Friday’s deadline for the deal’s completion. If it doesn’t close, the trial would be held in November.
WHY DELAWARE: The Elon Musk Twitter saga will play out in a Delaware courtroom. What is Chancery Court?
At the time of his offer, Musk said Twitter has the “potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe.” He said the platform would not reach this potential in its current state and was better organized as a private company.
He has said he is a “free speech absolutist” and intends to loosen the platform’s content moderation and would “reverse the permanent ban” of former President Donald Trump.
On Thursday, Musk tweeted a lengthy statement directed to Twitter advertisers explaining his motivation for acquiring Twitter.
“It is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk wrote. He later added that Twitter “cannot become a free-for-all hellscape” where speech has no consequences and that the platform must be “warm and welcoming to all.”
The Washington Post reported last week Musk plans to cut Twitter’s staff by nearly 75% in the coming months, reducing it to just over 2,000 people.
Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @holveck_brandon.
