After Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk could also become the CEO of Twitter Inc, at least for a few months after his $44 billion billion acquisition of the social media company is completed.
A CNBC report citing unnamed sources claims that Elon Musk is expected to serve as Twitter's temporary CEO for a few months. The same sources told the business outlet that Musk recently held presentations in front of investors he handpicked, where he gave financial projections based on his analysis of Twitter.
Apparently, those presentations worked because the billionaire has secured $7.14 billion in funding from a group of investors to finance the $44 billion takeover of the social media platform. Oracle co-founder and Tesla board member Larry Ellison is the biggest single contributor with $1 billion, a May 5 SEC filing shows.
In the filing, Musk revealed that he also received equity commitment letters from investors including venture firm Sequoia Capital, cryptocurrency exchange Binance, sovereign wealth fund Qatar Holding, asset management company Brookfield, and several family offices that manage the wealth of affluent individuals.
The document also showed that Musk will continue to hold talks with existing holders of Twitter, including the company's former chief Jack Dorsey, to contribute shares to the proposed acquisition. CNBC's David Faber claims that sources told him Dorsey may back Musk's takeover of Twitter (see above video).
As a result of the new equity commitments, Musk's margin loan against his shares in Tesla is reduced to $6.25 billion from $12.5 billion announced earlier. This should be good news for investors worried he might dump more of his Tesla stock to fund the acquisition of Twitter.
If Musk assumes the position of Twitter interim CEO after the acquisition, he will succeed Parag Agrawal, who has been chief executive officer only since last November when he replaced Jack Dorsey. Agrawal reportedly told employees last month during a companywide town hall meeting that the future of Twitter is uncertain under Musk, according to Reuters.
On the other hand, the Tesla CEO reportedly told investors that he felt Twitter's EBITDA earnings were too low and the company had "too many engineers not doing enough." Musk also pledged to make Twitter a "magnet for talent," the same sources told CNBC's David Faber.
