Elon Musk says he has lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter, and he's trying to negotiate an agreement with the company.
Last week, Musk announced an offer to buy the social media company for $54.20 per share, or about $43 billion. At the time, he did not say how he would finance the acquisition.
Taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to shareholders, not the board
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2022
The Tesla CEO said Thursday in documents filed with U.S. securities regulators that he's exploring what's known as a tender offer to buy all of the social media platform's common stock for $54.20 per share in cash. Under a tender offer, Musk, who owns about 9% of Twitter shares, would take his offer directly to other shareholders, bypassing the board. But Musk hasn't decided yet whether to do that.
The documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission say San Francisco-based Twitter Inc. has not responded to Musk's proposal.
Twitter said in a statement Thursday that it has received Musk’s updated proposal and its “new information on potential financing.”
The company said its board is “committed to conducting a careful, comprehensive and deliberate review to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the company and all Twitter stockholders.”
Last week Twitter's board adopted a “poison pill” defense that could make a takeover attempt prohibitively expensive.
The filing states that “entities related to (Musk) have received commitment letters committing to provide an aggregate of approximately $46.5 billion.”
The financing would come from Morgan Stanley and other financial institutions. Some would be secured by stock that Musk owns in Tesla, the electric car and solar panel maker. Other banks involved include Barclays, Bank of America, Societie Generale, Mizuho Bank, BNP Paribas and MUFG.
A Delaware corporation named X Holdings 1 was formed at the direction of Musk and some affiliates who intend to “acquire, directly or indirectly, all of the outstanding equity interests of, or directly or indirectly merge with Twitter Inc.,” according to a financing commitment letter the company submitted.
Shares of Twitter rose just under 1% to $47.05 in Thursday morning trading after the financing became public. The share price is $7.15 below Musk's offer.
With a tender offer, Musk would try to get other shareholders to pledge their stock to him at a certain price on a certain date. If enough shareholders agree, Musk could use that as leverage to get the board to drop the poison pill defense.
Additional reporting by The Associated Press.
