Musk Involves Saudi Prince in Twitter Acquisition... Secures 9 Trillion Won Investment (Comprehensive)

Elon Musk Tesla CEO [Photo by Reuters]

[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Joselgina, Reporter Jeong Hyeonjin] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who is rushing to secure funds for the acquisition of the global social networking service (SNS) Twitter, has persuaded investors including a Saudi Arabian prince to attract investments worth 9 trillion won. As the acquisition process nears completion, there is speculation that Musk may serve as interim CEO himself, while the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reviewing whether to conduct an antitrust review, drawing attention to whether Musk can successfully complete the final acquisition.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and others on the 5th (local time), Musk announced that he secured acquisition funds of $7.14 billion (approximately 9.09 trillion won) from a total of 19 investors for Twitter on that day.

Among the $44 billion acquisition funds for Twitter, Musk must fill $21 billion with his own equity, so this investment attraction has eased his financial burden. Since most of Musk’s assets are Tesla and SpaceX stocks, he was in a situation where he had to sell Tesla shares or take out secured loans to acquire Twitter, raising concerns about huge taxes and loan limit restrictions. WSJ reported, "With the investment attraction, the amount Musk needs to borrow against Tesla shares has been halved."

The largest amount of $1.9 billion among the investments Musk attracted came from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Alwaleed, the richest man in Saudi Arabia, was the only one among the 19 investors who decided to invest in Twitter shares after the merger instead of providing funds, promising to maintain an equity investment of 34.95 million shares worth $1.9 billion. Alwaleed stated through Twitter, "I believe my new friend Musk will be a great leader who can maximize Twitter’s tremendous potential."

Bloomberg reported that Alwaleed’s participation in the investment came after a change of attitude in just three weeks. Initially, Musk proposed an investment to Alwaleed via Twitter on the 14th of last month, but Alwaleed rejected it, saying, "This offer did not come close to Twitter’s intrinsic value." Bloomberg added, "It is unclear how Musk persuaded the Saudi billionaire, but it seems to align with Alwaleed’s investment tendency to focus on high-profile bets."

Besides Alwaleed, Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, B Capital, and cryptocurrency exchange Binance also participated as investors. Ellison is a member of Tesla’s board, and Sequoia is one of SpaceX’s major investors. Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, Qatar Holdings, also joined as an investor.

As Musk secures investors, the possibility of completing the Twitter acquisition contract within this year has increased. According to CNBC citing sources, once the acquisition process is fully completed, Musk is expected to serve as interim CEO himself. If Musk becomes Twitter’s interim CEO, he will manage the SNS business in addition to electric vehicle company Tesla, space exploration company SpaceX, and high-speed underground tunnel boring company The Boring Company.

However, it remains to be seen whether the acquisition process will be completed without obstacles. It has been reported that the FTC is considering reviewing whether Musk’s Twitter acquisition violates antitrust laws. The FTC is expected to decide next month whether to launch an in-depth antitrust review of the Twitter acquisition. Bloomberg reported that under U.S. merger laws, Musk must notify the FTC and the Department of Justice of the Twitter acquisition deal and wait at least 30 days until the authorities issue guidelines, and the FTC may request additional information.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.