Elon Musk gets Twitter deal backing from Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Saudi prince

A Saudi prince, Larry Ellison and a bitcoin exchange are among investors joining in on the Tesla CEO’s bid for Twitter.

Musk has lined up an impressive list of backers for its Twitter tilt. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

Elon Musk has assembled a group of investors including a Saudi prince, Larry Ellison and a bitcoin exchange to pony up more than $US7bn to back his bid to buy Twitter Inc.

Tesla’s chief executive lined up about $US7.1bn from 19 investors, a roster of big-money backers whose investment effectively reduces the personal risk Mr Musk has to take to close the $US44bn deal for the social-media company.

The new money will cut in half the amount Mr Musk needs to borrow against his Tesla stake, according to a regulatory filing, and will slightly reduce the balance of cash he needs to put up personally, to just under $US20bn.

The biggest contribution comes from Prince al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, who agreed to retain a stake in Twitter valued at $US1.9bn following Mr Musk’s takeover, the disclosure said.

The prince, a nephew of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, initially dismissed Mr Musk’s offer, saying it undervalued Twitter.

Prince al-Waleed was at his desert camp outside of Riyadh City and unavailable to comment, said a spokesperson for his company, Kingdom Holding Co.

Mr Ellison, Oracle Corp co-founder, agreed to put in $US1bn.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance.com, controlled by billionaire developer Changpeng Zhao, promised $US500m.

Venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz are contributing $US800m and $US400m, respectively.

Arms of asset managers Fidelity Investments and Brookfield Asset Management also will take part.

Brookfield is putting $US250m into the deal via Brookfield Growth, according to a person familiar with the matter, a unit that typically invests in younger companies.

The investment is the largest ever for the unit, which participated in the latest funding round for Mr Musk’s Boring Co.

The swath of investors features firms that have put money into the development of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Andreessen Horowitz has a portfolio including cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global and Dapper Labs, the maker of NBA Top Shot.

DFJ Growth also invested in Coinbase, according to its website. Sequoia has put money in crypto exchange FTX.

Binance said its involvement is “as a supporter of Elon Musk’s plans for Twitter and an investor”, a spokesman said.

Mr Zhao tweeted that the investment was “a small contribution to the cause.”

Mr Musk said he is in talks to bring more current Twitter shareholders, including co-founder Jack Dorsey, into the company after the buyout.

Mr Musk has told potential investors in Twitter that he could return the company to public markets after a few years of ownership.

The world’s richest man, by some measures, Mr Musk leveraged a wide network of associates to come on board for his plans.

He has said that he wants the social-media company to be less censorious in content moderation, but has otherwise given few details about his exact plans.

At one point he said he doesn’t care whether he makes money on the deal.

Mr Musk has a history of missing his timelines and targets at Tesla, the electric-car company.

Andreessen Horowitz, known as a16z, is betting that Mr. Musk can help Twitter fulfil its founders’ mission to “connect the world,” co-founder Ben Horowitz tweeted on Thursday morning.

Twitter, Mr Horowitz said, is challenged by “myriad difficult issues” – bots, abuse and censorship among them.

Its reliance on advertising exacerbates them, he said.

“Elon is the one person we know and perhaps the only person in the world who has the courage, brilliance, and skills to fix all of these and build the public square that we all hoped for and deserve,” Mr Horowitz tweeted.

Twitter shares edged towards Mr Musk’s $US54.20 a share offer price. The closer the stock gets to the offer price, the higher likelihood that investors put on the deal going through.

As a result of the new financing commitments, Mr Musk said the $US12.5bn margin loan he had received to buy Twitter has been reduced to $US6.25bn and the takeover will be financed now by $US27.25bn in equity and cash.

Other prominent backers of the deal include Dubai-based investment firm VyCapital, which is on the hook for $US700m.

Qatar Holding LLC, founded in 2006 by the Qatar Investment Authority, has also pitched in $US375m, and Aliya Capital Partners LLC, run by chief executive Ross Kestin, has committed $US360m.

Other new financiers of the deal include familiar faces from Mr Musk’s past.

Bamco, founded by prominent Tesla investor Ron Baron, has committed $US100m.

Draper Fisher Jurvetson, SpaceX board member Steve Jurvetson’s former venture capital firm, has committed another $US100m.

Strauss Capital LLC and Witkoff Capital are also backers.

Tech-focused financial adviser Key Wealth Advisors LLC, private-equity firm AM Management & Consulting and Chicago-based Litani Ventures, which is the family office of RXBAR founder Peter Rahal, are also coming in on the deal.

Other companies listed are David Fiszel-founded Honeycomb Asset Management LP, which threw in $US5m, and Peter Avellone-founded Cartenna Capital LP, which committed $US8.5m.

“We believe this investment represents an opportunity to support an incredible business leader at an important time for Twitter,” Mr Avellone said.

-With Caitlin Ostroff, Patricia Kowsmann and Laura Cooper.

– The Wall Street Journal