Elon Musk is funding his $44 billion Twitter buyout with his own wealth and seeking additional backers following dip in Tesla stock, new report says

Elon Musk tweeted that the deal was on hold Friday.

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• Elon Musk is fronting more of his own wealth to finance his $44 billion buyout offer for Twitter, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• He's also seeking other financial backers, including former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, according to The Journal.
• The news comes following a sharp decline in Tesla stock since Twitter announced the proposed acquisition in April.

Tesla chief Elon Musk is leaning on more of his own wealth and seeking additional financial backers to fund his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Last month, Twitter announced it accepted Musk's buyout offer of $44 billion, pending regulatory approval by shareholders. The deal is expected to close in 2022, Twitter said.

According to a regulatory filing obtained by The Journal on Wednesday, Musk's plan to fund the buyout includes $33.5 billion in equity, up from the initial $27.25 billion. The Tesla CEO is also discussing with Twitter shareholders — including former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey — about possibly retaining their stakes following the proposed acquisition as means of additional financing for the buyout.

The Journal also reported that Musk no longer plans to fund the buyout deal with Tesla shares, which saw a sharp decline by about a third following the announcement of Musk's acquisition in April.

The change in funding comes after the billionaire Tesla CEO tweeted on May 13 that his potential takeover of the social media platform was "temporarily on hold," citing a detail from a filing that said less than 5% of Twitter accounts are spam or fake — which Musk has pledged to address upon acquiring the site.

Twitter later confirmed that it was committed to enforcing Musk's merger agreement despite the hesitations.

"We are working through this transaction process," CEO Parag Agrawal said at Twitter's annual shareholder gathering. "Even as we work toward closing this transaction, our teams and I remain focused on the important work we do every day."

Representatives from Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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