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Elon Musk has released a video showing him strolling to Twitter’s headquarters ahead of Friday’s deadline to complete his $44bn (£37.8bn) deal to buy the company.
Mr. Musk also changed his Twitter profile to refer to himself as Chief Twit and his location to Twitter HQ, which is based in San Francisco.
The video shows him walking down the hall with a sink.
“Enter Twitter HQ – let it sink in!” he tweeted.
The court has given Musk until Friday to complete his April deal to buy the company after Musk earlier tried to back out of the deal.
Neither Musk nor Twitter said whether the deal had been completed.
Despite Mr. Musk’s striking entry into headquarters, it is unclear whether his acquisition of Twitter has been finalized.
Twitter confirmed that Mr. Musk’s video tweet was genuine, but would not comment further.
Musk’s lead attorney, Alex Spiro, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Washington Post reported last week that Musk told potential investors that he plans to cut three-quarters of Twitter’s 7,500 employees after becoming the company’s owner.
The paper cited documents and unnamed sources familiar with the deliberations.
One of the biggest hurdles for Mr. Musk to close the deal is keeping the financing promised about six months ago.
Earlier this year, banks including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America signed deals to give Musk $12.5bn (£10.7bn) to buy Twitter and take it private.
A solid contract with Musk ties the bank to the financing, although changes in the economy and debt markets since April may make the terms less attractive.
Mr. Musk even said his investment group would buy Twitter for more than it was worth.
Less clear is what will happen to the billions of dollars promised to Musk by investors who will take ownership of Twitter.
Mr. Musk’s initial list of equity partners includes a range of partners, from the billionaire’s tech friends with like-minded ideas on Twitter’s future, such as Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. , to a fund controlled by Middle Eastern royalty.
The more equity investors involved in the deal, the less Musk himself will pay.
Much of his wealth is tied to shares in Tesla, the electric car company he runs.
He has sold more than $15bn (£12.9bn) worth of Tesla shares since April, presumably to pay for his share.
More sales are likely to come.
Mr Musk’s teaser for buying Twitter appears to have started in late March.
That’s when Twitter said he contacted board members — including co-founder Jack Dorsey — and told them he was buying stock and was interested in joining the board, taking Twitter private or starting a competitor.
Then, on April 4, he revealed in a regulatory filing that he had become the company’s largest shareholder after taking a 9% stake worth around $3bn (£2.6bn).
At first, Twitter offered Musk a board seat.
But six days later, CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted that Musk would not be joining the board after all.
He quickly bought the company.
When Musk agreed to buy Twitter, he inserted a “420” cannabis reference in the price of $54.20 per share.
He sold about $15 billion worth of Tesla stock to fund the acquisition, then raised billions in pledges from a diverse group of investors including Silicon Valley heavyweights such as Mr. Ellison.
Inside Twitter, Mr. Musk’s proposal was met with confusion and low morale, especially after Mr. Musk publicly criticized one of Twitter’s top lawyers for the content moderation decision.
In July, Musk abruptly changed course and announced that he was abandoning the acquisition of Twitter.
The reason he stated was that Twitter did not directly address the problem with the fake accounts he called “spam bots.”
Twitter is suing Musk in Delaware Chancery Court to force the deal through.
Two weeks before the five-day pilot program began, Musk changed his mind again, saying he wanted to close the deal after all.
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