First modification:
Entrepreneur Elon Musk published a video in which he is seen smiling at Twitter headquarters with a sink, implying that the purchase of the social network is about to take place.
Elon Musk’s $44 billion deal to take Twitter private is due Friday, though the video he posted offered no proof the takeover was complete.
Representatives for Twitter and Musk have yet to comment, though Twitter did confirm that Musk’s video tweet was real. Musk also changed his Twitter profile to refer to himself as “Chief Twit.”
The Friday deadline to close the deal was ordered by the Delaware Chancery Court in early October. It’s the latest step in a legal battle during which Musk signed a deal to acquire Twitter, then tried to back out, prompting the company to sue Tesla’s CEO to force him to end the deal. If the two sides miss Friday’s deadline, the next step could be a trial in November.
Robert Anderson, a law professor at Pepperdine University, said he fully expects the deal to close before Friday’s deadline. “I don’t see anything unusual about it other than that it has brought a sink,” he commented.
His apparent enthusiasm for visiting Twitter’s headquarters contrasts with one of his earlier suggestions that the building should be turned into a “homeless shelter” because, according to him, very few employees work there.
A drastic cut in Twitter staff
The Washington Post reported that Musk told potential investors that he plans to cut three-quarters of Twitter’s 7,500 workers when he owns the company.
The outlet cited documents and unidentified sources familiar with the negotiation. Several hours after posting the video of him over the sink, Musk tweeted that he was meeting “a bunch of cool people on Twitter today.”
A group of banks, including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, signed up earlier this year to lend him $12.5 billion of the money Musk needed to buy Twitter and take it public.
Less clear is what happens to the billions of dollars promised to Musk by investors who would get stakes in Twitter. Musk’s original list of partners included the tech billionaire’s friends with like-minded views on Twitter’s future, such as Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, to funds controlled by Middle Eastern royalty.
Tech analysts speculate that Musk wants to use Twitter to help create an “everything app” similar to China’s WeChat service, which allows users to video chat, send messages, stream video, scan barcodes and make payments.
with AP
