Fakoyejo Olalekan
The wealth of Tesla majority shareholder and Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk, rose by 1.18 per cent on Wednesday, two days to the deadline issued to him to buy Twitter.
Musk has until October 28, 2022, to acquire Twitter or face trial for trying to terminate the deal after reaching a contractual agreement with the board of the social networking site.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe billionaire had agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion, which is $54.20 per share held by Twitter’s founder, Jack Dorsey, and other shareholders of the Company.
However, in July, Musk tried to pull out of the agreement, citing false and misleading representations, which he said breached the acquisition contract.
In a bid to stop Musk from pulling out, Twitter filed a suit against him, to force in into acquiring the firm. Days to the start of the trial set for October 17, the billionaire backtracked, and agreed to buy the company.
With two days left to acquire Twitter or face court trial, which could see him lose $1 billion as fine for breaking the deal, amongst other possible sanctions, Musk’s wealth climbed 1.18 per cent on Wednesday, Prime Business Africa gathered.
He made over N1.14 trillion ($2.6 billion) from Tesla stock market activity after trading. This increased his wealth to $222.2 billion. PBA understands this was after the firm’s share appreciated by 1.45 per cent in the exchange market.
Tesla share appreciated against expectations that Musk is about to acquire Twitter, with part of the funds coming from sales of some shares Musk held in the electric auto-vehicle.
The automotive stock value rose to $225.65 pet share, from $222.42, indicating demand for the share increased, and reflecting absence of fear among the investing public towards Musk’s decision to go ahead with the Twitter acquisition.
Musk had sold some of his Tesla shares worth $7 billion since August, believed to be part of his move to raise money for his personal contribution of $33.5 billion to buy Twitter, with financial firms like Morgan Stanley, expected to provide the rest.
