Ellison, Binance and Sequoia back Musk’s $44bn bid for Twitter
Tesla chief raises $7bn from new investors for takeover of social media platform
Elon Musk has revealed that he has raised $7.14bn of funding for his $44bn buyout of Twitter, from investors including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, crypto exchange Binance and asset management firms Fidelity, Brookfield and Sequoia Capital.
With the new financing commitments, Musk will cut the margin loan he has taken with a group of lenders by half to $6.25bn and increase the equity commitment to $27.25bn. The remainder of the purchase price will be paid with debt raised from global banks.
The biggest new backing for his purchase comes from Ellison, who is contributing $1bn. Venture capital firm Sequoia is providing $800mn, while Dubai-based tech investment firm VyCapital is giving $700mn. Binance is providing $500mn.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, already an investor in Twitter, will roll 35mn shares into the bid vehicle, which at the offer price equates to a $1.9bn stake.
Musk also revealed also working to bring in additional equity investors, including billionaire Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey by giving existing shareholders an option to contribute their shares to the buyout.
He added in the filing that any further contributions may replace portions of the financing commitments previously arranged.