Binance Invests $500M Towards Twitter Acquisition
Even as Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk acquired social media giant Twitter in a $44 billion deal, Binance Co-founder and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao announced on Friday that the company had “wired” $500 million toward the purchase, making the cryptocurrency exchange a stakeholder in the company. “Our intern said that 2 days ago, we wired $500M, maybe it was right when i was asked about Elon/Twitter,” Zhao tweeted, suggesting the funds were moved toward the acquisition earlier in the week. Along with 18 other investors, including the Sequoia Capital fund, Fidelity Management, and the research firm, Binance announced in May 2022 it will become a Twitter co-investor.
Responding to a Twitter user who wrote “CZ” is now part-owner of Twitter, it said, “We are little potatoes, only a little”. . Responding to additional comments, Zhao clarified he was not personally involved in the transactions, and joked that he believed that transfers were made using normal banking methods, rather than a Blockchain or crypto-currency transaction.
With $500 million of the stake in Twitter, Binance was ranked the fourth-largest investor in the acquisition. The Lawrence J. Allison Revocable Trust contributed $1 billion toward Musks led acquisition of the social media site, making it its largest single backer.
Meanwhile, as part of the transaction, Twitter was taken private, leading to the delisting of the companys shares. After being listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2013, trading of Twitter shares has been suspended, according to a New York Stock Exchange site. Given Musk discussed the concept of taking Twitter private well before, including doing so as part of the buyout, and has even stated in the past that he intends to privatize Tesla, privatizing the social media giant would come as no surprise.
