Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) shares headed higher on Thursday after Elon Musk revised the financing plans for his US$44bn purchase.
In a regulatory filing, Musk said he would pledge US$6.25bn in equity financing as part of his US$44bn bid for Twitter, reducing his margin loan against Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) to zero.
Musk earlier sold US$8.5bn of Tesla shares to raise cash for his Twitter deal, tweeting at the time that he had no further sales planned.
The billionaire is still trying to close the deal even though last week he called for Twitter to present more proof about the level of fake accounts and spambots on the social media platform, later adding he wanted a discount on his offer price propionate to the true level of spambots.
Twitter shares jumped more than 5% to US$39.22 in after-market trading on Wednesday.
In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the Tesla CEO said he would seek US$13bn in loans for the Twitter purchase instead of using nearly twice as much debt as previously indicated.
The regulatory filing outlines financing changes that would reduce Musk's existing lending package, with the billionaire needing to raise the sum through stock commitments rather than debt.
Consequently, the equity portion of the deal would increase to US$33.5bn from the US$27.25bn Musk disclosed three weeks ago.
Musk did not go into great detail in his filing with the SEC but emphasised he was still trying to convince former Twitter chief Jack Dorsey to join the financing package.
Wednesday was Dorsey's last day on Twitter's board.
Based on Twitter's closing stock price on Wednesday, Dorsey, also a Twitter co-founder, owns a 2.4% stake, worth about US$700mln, while Musk holds a 9.6% stake worth US$2.7bn.
Twitter's share price is still well below the US$54.20 Musk agreed to pay just a month ago, suggesting many investors expect the price of the deal to be revised.