Musk

Elon Musk fears for family’s safety. Image: ANGELA WEISS/AFP

Saudi Prince, Dorsey and more: How Elon Musk bought Twitter

Elon Musk bought Twitter with the help of Wall Street bank loans, a Saudi Prince and Jack Dorsey. Here’s what we know…

Musk

Elon Musk fears for family’s safety. Image: ANGELA WEISS/AFP

Bloomberg reports that South African-born Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk bought Twitter on Thursday 27 October with the help of Wall Street bank loans and shareholders who agreed to roll over their interest in the social media platform in exchange for a stake in the company that is now private.

HOW ELON MUSK BOUGHT TWITTER 

Elon Musk officially took over Twitter on Thursday 27 October. Since then he has fired Twitter’s board of directors and became the sole director of the company. This gives the billionaire gives unfettered control over the micro-blogging platform.

Bloomberg reports that the billionaire bought Twitter with the help of Wall Street bank loans shareholders. These shareholders reportedly agreed to roll over their interest in the social media platform in exchange for a stake in the private company. As well as his own wealth, which recently decreased by R2 trillion. However, he is still the world’s richest person.

So, this means that Twitter – whose shares were delisted last week after being a public company now has new investors.

Musk
Elon Musk becomes sole director of Twitter. Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWNAFP.

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SAUDI PRINCE, JACK DORSEY AMONG INVESTORS

  • The publication reports that Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal has moved almost 35 million Twitter shares through the Kingdom Holding Company. So, this makes him the “second largest” investor in Twitter.
  • Jack Dorsey – Twitter’s co-founder and former CEO rolled over more than 18 million shares. 
  • A subsidiary of the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar contributed $375 million (R6.8 billion) in exchange for shares of Twitter.
  • The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates the value of the stakes rolled over from Twitter stock declined by an estimated 40% since the billionaire first made his offer in April. This is based on a drop in an index of social-media company shares.

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