Elon Musk speaks at the World Car News Congress at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan.
Rebecca Cook Reuters
Elon Musk is expected to serve as interim CEO of Twitter for several months after completing the $ 44 billion takeover of social media company, sources told CNBC’s David Faber.
A SEC filing on Thursday revealed that Musk had provided about $ 7.14 billion in capital commitments from friends and other investors to buy Twitter. Faber said Musk selected the investors manually. Commitments range from $ 1 billion from Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison to $ 5 million from Honeycomb Asset Management, which is investing in SpaceX. Faber added that Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey could support him, and Musk spoke to him about the possibility of bringing in shares immediately or before the merger is completed.
Twitter CEO Parag Agraval has run the company for only a few months after taking the helm from Dorsey last November. So far, there has not been much discussion about whether the takeover of the company by Musk will lead to a change of leadership. Last month, Reuters reported that Musk had appointed a new CEO for Twitter, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Agraval told officials at a company-wide town hall meeting last month that Twitter’s future was uncertain with Musk, according to a separate Reuters report.
“Once the deal is over, we don’t know which way the platform will go,” Agraval said, when asked if the company could allow former US President Donald Trump to return to the platform when Musk takes office. Trump was permanently excluded from Twitter last year.
Musk’s acquisition of Twitter comes at a crucial time for the company. Agraval said he would focus on increasing Twitter’s daily active user base and providing new products to customers. In the latest profit report, Twitter said it had reached 229 million active users who could earn revenue, up 15.9% from the same period last year.
Musk recently gave presentations to investors, where he gave financial forecasts based on his analysis on Twitter, according to sources familiar with the situation, who spoke with Faber.
Musk told investors he thought Twitter’s EBITDA margin was too low and the company had “too many engineers not doing enough,” Faber said, citing sources familiar with the matter. Musk also promised to make the company a “talent magnet,” Faber added.
Shares of Twitter rose 3% on Thursday morning. Tesla shares fell more than 4%.
WATCH: Elon Musk’s challenge will be to fix Twitter, not buy it, says Dan Ives of Wedbush
Add Comment