Filing says Elon Musk to borrow less in Twitter bid

Tesla boss Elon Musk is courting big Twitter shareholders such as co-founder Jack Dorsey as he looks to rely less on debt in his bid to buy the global one-to-many messaging platform.

Elon Musk notified US regulators on Wednesday that he will rely less on loans in his bid to buy Twitter, as he and partners put $33.5 billion into the deal.

Twitter shares climbed more than 5 percent on the news, as the market evidently took it as a sign the acquisition is moving forward despite Musk declaring it on "hold" due to his concerns about the number of accounts that might be software "bots" instead of real people.

Musk has been courting major Twitter investors including co-founder Jack Dorsey in the hope of getting them to partner with him in taking the San Francisco-based company private.

Analysts were concerned about Musk using billions of dollars worth of his Tesla shares to back loans, meaning the electric car company's stock price would be affected by the fortunes of Twitter.

Wedbush estimated the chances of the Musk buy of Twitter happening as even odds, Ives said in the tweet.

Twitter shares were just shy of $40 each in after-market trades on Wednesday, signaling a lack of faith by investors in the original deal being culminated.

...