Musk told bank he will rein in Twitter pay -sources

STORY: Tesla CEO Elon Musk told banks - that agreed to help fund his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter - that he could crack down on executive and board pay at the social media company.

That’s according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Musk made the pitch as he tried to secure debt for the buyout - days after submitting his offer to Twitter earlier this month, according to sources.

While the plan he outlined was reportedly thin on detail, sources said Musk told the banks he plans to develop features to grow business revenue, including new ways to make money out of tweets that contain important information or go viral.

Ideas he brought up included charging a fee when a third-party website wants to quote or embed a tweet from verified individuals or organizations.

In the end, he clinched 13 billion dollars in loans secured against Twitter and a $12.5 billion margin loan tied to his Tesla stock. He agreed to pay the rest with his own cash.

Musk has tweeted about eliminating the salaries of Twitter's board directors, which he said could result in about $3 million in cost savings.

In his pitch to the banks, Musk also pointed to Twitter's gross margin, which is much lower than Facebook or Pinterest, arguing this leaves plenty of space to run the company in a more cost-efficient way.

A representative for Musk declined to comment.