Elon Musk’s $44bn Twitter takeover was never going to be conventional. First, he persuaded Wall Street to back him with enough debt to win over the company’s board. Now, he is relying on his billionaire friends to raise the cash portion of his offer and convince shareholders to make him king of the world’s “digital town square”. 

Musk revealed $7.14bn of new funding from 19 investors on Thursday for his audacious bid, which would be one of the largest leveraged buyouts on record. The latest backers include figures from different corners of Wall Street, Silicon Valley and the decentralised crypto universe, who have either made billions thanks to the South African entrepreneur, or are happy to proclaim their support for a man who they deem a visionary.

Oracle co-founder and Tesla board member Larry Ellison wrote the largest new cheque, worth $1bn, while venture capital firm Sequoia has committed $800mn and Dubai-based Vy Capital is providing $700mn. Among the broad investor group, many said they were happy to give Musk the money without delving too deeply into how he planned to turn Twitter around.