Morning Brief – Friday, 28 October 2022

Good morning. Here’s what you need to know today:

• Elon Musk officially completes his purchase of Twitter.
• Eskom will have to meet pre-conditions if it wants government to take on some of its debt.
• Other embassies reiterate the US’s warning about a possible terror attack in SA over the weekend.

It happened: Elon Musk officially owns Twitter

On Thursday, the world’s wealthiest man Elon Musk officially completed his $44 billion purchase of the social media company Twitter. He delisted it from the New York Stock Exchange, taking the company private. The road to buying Twitter has been anything but smooth with Musk first buying a 9.2% stake in the company in April before declaring his intent to buy the company in its entirety. Musk would later get cold feet, prompting a legal battle to force him to complete the deal. Musk’s first act as the new owner was to clean house, reportedly firing CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, Head of Legal, Policy, and Trust Vijaya Gadde and General Counsel Sean Edgett. (Tech Crunch)

What Treasury wants from Eskom in exchange for debt relief

Embattled power utility Eskom will have to sell off its non-core assets and make operational improvements if it wants the government to transfer a large chunk of its R400 billion debt. These are just some of the conditions Eskom will have to meet according to treasury officials. The officials have responded to questions from MPs following the tabling of the medium-term budget in parliament on Wednesday. MPs are also concerned that relieving the power utility of some of its debt will open the door for it to take on more debt. (Business Day, for subscribers)

Western embassies repeat US warning of possible terror attack in Sandton

Despite the South African government downplaying any potential terrorist threat to the affluent Sandton area over the weekend, the British, Canadian and Australian high commissions and the French and German embassies in Pretoria have all echoed the US Embassy’s warning of a possible terror attack. The US sent out a warning on Wednesday and the other embassies have reiterated the alert rather than independently verifying the threat. (Daily Maverick)