Twitter investor confirms Elon Musk seeks additional funding

An investor in Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of social media giant Twitter (TWTR) confirmed that a representative for the billionaire recently reached out to him about investing in the company.

Ross Gerber, president and CEO at Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, who’s also an investor in Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), said a representative for the Tesla CEO reached out to him on Thursday about investing in Twitter at the same price Musk paid for the company, $54.20 a share, according to various media reports on Friday.

Gerber told the WSJ that he originally invested about $1 million in Musk’s buyout of Twitter and told the publication that he was reviewing Musk’s latest proposal and had questions about how Twitter was being managed, including how long Musk would remain CEO.

Gerber’s comments confirmed a Semafor report on Friday that the manager of Musk’s family office, Jared Birchall, was said to be looking to draw new investors in at the same $54.20 per share price that Musk paid to acquire the company.

The news comes as Twitter’s cash crunch is the likely cause for yet another of Musk’s sales of billions of dollars in Tesla stock (TSLA) after repeatedly saying this year he was “done” selling Tesla – most recently, a disclosure this week that he sold nearly $3.58B more. Tesla stock fell another 4.7% Friday as some more notable investors pushed for a CEO succession plan.

Separately, Gerber Tweeted on Friday that he notified Tesla’s (TSLA) board that he wants to be added to it an he wishes to be added to the proxy statement.

Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster said Wednesday that Musk’s adventure with Twitter represents a risk to Tesla (TSLA) as public perception of the billionaire stands as a cornerstone to the EV maker’s brand.