Elon Musk visits Twitter headquarters ahead of takeover deadline

Billionaire Elon Musk said he paid a visit to Twitter Inc's headquarters in San Francisco on Wednesday, ahead of a court-ordered deadline to close his US$44 billion deal for the social media platform.

"Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!" said the caption of a video that Musk tweeted in which he was walking into the Twitter office carrying a sink in his hands.

Hours earlier, he hinted at being the company's top boss after updating his profile's bio to "Chief Twit".

Twitter confirmed Musk would visit the San Francisco office this week, but declined to comment further.

Banks have started to send US$13 billion in cash backing Musk's takeover of Twitter in a sign that the deal is on track to close by the end of the week, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Once final closing conditions are met, the funds will be made available for Musk to execute the transaction by the Friday deadline, the report added.

Bank of America and Barclays declined to comment on the report when contacted by Reuters, while Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the six months of a dramatic back-and-forth since Musk announced his US$54.20 per share bid, Twitter initially resisted the deal by adopting a poison pill and later sued the world's richest man after he announced plans to abandon the offer on concerns about spam accounts on the platform.

Earlier this month, Musk proposed to proceed with his original US$44 billion bid, calling for an end to the lawsuit by Twitter.

The Tesla Inc CEO notified co-investors who committed to help fund the Twitter deal that he plans to close it by Friday, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Equity investors including Sequoia Capital, Binance, Qatar Investment Authority and others have received the requisite paperwork for the financing commitment from Musk's lawyers, Reuters reported.

Twitter shares were up about 1.1 percent at US$53.91 in extended trading, slightly below Musk's offer price.

- Reuters