Billionaire Elon Musk carried an actual sink into Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters during a surprise visit Wednesday ahead of his expected acquisition of the company.
Musk shared a video laughing while lugging the sink into the lobby – two days before his court-ordered deadline to close a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter or face a trial. Earlier in the day, the Tesla boss changed his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit.”
“Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!” Musk tweeted alongside the nine-second video.
In a memo to staffers, Twitter chief marketing officer Leslie Berland revealed that Musk would be on site at the company’s headquarters throughout the week. Musk is also expected to personally address employees on Friday.
“Elon is in the SF office this week meeting with folks, walking the halls, and continuing to dive in on the important work you all do,” Berland wrote in the memo, according to Bloomberg. “For everyone else, this is just the beginning of many meetings and conversations with Elon, and you’ll all hear directly from him on Friday.”
The Post reached out to Twitter for comment.
Representatives for Musk and Twitter are working to iron out terms on the transaction before a 5 p.m. ET Friday deadline.
A finalized deal would mark the end of a months-long saga in which Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share and then changed his mind due to concerns about spam bots – only to reverse course again and say he would proceed on the original terms.
Musk reportedly told his co-investors and bankers earlier this week that he intends to close his acquisition of Twitter by the end of the week.
Musk’s co-investors, including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, are chipping in with $7.1 billion toward the purchase price. Meanwhile, banks such as Morgan Stanley and Bank of America have committed $13 billion in debt financing toward the deal.
The billionaire has pledged to lead an overhaul at Twitter with an emphasis on free speech. Musk has also hinted that his Twitter takeover will facilitate his plans to build a “super app” called X, with functionality likely similar to China-based app WeChat.
Musk’s looming involvement has been a source of consternation for Twitter employees and purportedly contributed to a mass exodus of staffers in recent months. Many of the scorned workers are reportedly joining rivals Google and Meta.
Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that Musk had told investors he could lay off nearly 75% of the company’s 7,500 employees. Twitter’s human resources team told staffers that there was no plan for mass layoffs.
With Post wires
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
