On the 28th of October, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, confirmed its $500 million investment in Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, which it did as an equity investor.
In an email statement to Decrypt, Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, said that they’re excited to be able to help Elon realize a new vision for Twitter. Moreover, he said that they aim to play a role in bringing social media and Web3 together to broaden the use and adoption of crypto and blockchain technology.
Earlier this week, Changpeng confirmed that Binance would stick to its earlier promise to commit $500 million towards Musk’s bid to buy Twitter. And on the 27th of October, Zhao confirmed on Twitter that Binance had already wired the said amount as part of the deal. At that time, in investment towards Twitter, Chanpeng believed this would offer an opportunity to help bridge social media and news into Web3.
However, this year in May, Binance first revealed plans to back Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in an SEC filing. At this time, Chanpeng described this move as a small contribution to the cause.
According to data from Forbes, the other financiers who helped Elon fund the deal are Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Barclays, each committing at least $2.5 billion in debt financing. And according to data from CBNC, other equity investors who participated in the Twitter acquisition are Qatar Investment Authority, Fidelity Management & Research, and Sequoia Capital.
After these investments and months of legal and public squabbling over the Twitter deal, Elon finalized his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. On the 28th of October, after taking charge of Twitter, Elon tweeted that the bird is freed.
After taking charge, Elon makes cuts to Twitter’s c-suit, such as Twitter’s CEO Parag Agrawal, the chief financial officer Ned Segal, and the top lawyer Vijaya Gadde. According to a Bloomberg report, Elon is expected to take over as Twitter’s CEO.
