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The Tesla boss has lined up more than $7bn in financing for his takeover of Twitter, with backers such as Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and Larry Ellison.
Elon Musk has secured commitments of varying amounts from 18 investors for his planned $44bn takeover of Twitter. The total amount he has secured from the funders is $7.1bn, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing published yesterday (4 May).
The billionaire businessman has received backing from major Silicon Valley VC firms Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz as well as Dubai-based Vy Capital. Asset management firm Fidelity has also come on board, as have crypto exchange Binance and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.
The biggest investment of $1bn came courtesy of Oracle co-founder and tech investor Larry Ellison, who is also a member of the Tesla board.
Twitter confirmed on 25 April that Musk was planning to purchase the company, after the Tesla and SpaceX boss made an all-cash offer in mid-April. Musk had been acquiring shares in the Twitter in recent months and by the beginning of April he became Twitter’s largest shareholder.
If the deal closes later this year, Musk will take Twitter private. He said previously that he plans to make it a place for free speech, adding that it has “tremendous potential”.
His comments were seen as controversial by those who do not want the site privatised by a billionaire.
The country of Qatar is giving Musk $375m for his acquisition plans, meaning the tech entrepreneur and free speech advocate is being backed by a state that does not allow freedom of expression to all of its citizens. According to a report by US-based non-profit organisation Freedom House, Qatar scored 25 out of a possible 100 on its Freedom in the World index 2022.
Speaking to SiliconRepublic.com recently, director of the Institute for Future Media, Democracy and Society at Dublin City University Prof Jane Suiter said: “Musk has an evangelist view of the internet as an open space and democratising force.”
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