‘Funding Secured’? Musk Claims He Has the 46 Big Ones to Buy Twitter

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has the backing of a number of huge identify banks to be able to get sufficient scratch collectively to make a play for Twitter.

Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission dated April 20 present that Musk is “exploring whether to commence a tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Common Stock” together with his unique proposed value of $54.20 a share, totalling roughly $45.5 billion. The paperwork state that the Twitter board has but to answer the proposal.

It has been an open query earlier than whether or not Musk would have the required capital to match his proposed worth for the corporate, although the paperwork present he’s borrowing from huge identify gamers, together with Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, which has provided $25.5 billion in debt financing. Musk himself would commit $21 billion in fairness financing, which can come from shares the CEO has in Tesla. CNBC has also reported that Bank of America, Barclays, MUFG, Societe Generale, Mizuho Bank, and BNP Paribas are serving to to finance the buyout.

The incontrovertible fact that he’s “exploring” whether or not to make the tender provide means he has but to offer it to the Twitter board, which has already adopted a poison capsule within the type of a “Rights Plan,” permitting shareholders to purchase further shares within the firm at a decreased value ought to anybody purchase greater than 15% of the corporate without delay.

The Rights Plan mainly means Musk has no alternative however focus on his proposal with the board. The Telsa CEO has additionally been blasé in regards to the thought his deal would fall by means of, saying final week throughout a TED Q&A “I am not sure I will actually be able to acquire it.”

Musk has repeatedly used the phrase “tender” in tweets to trace at this transfer, writing “___ is the night” earlier this week. It’s widespread sufficient for him as a common Twitter consumer and troll, particularly contemplating he likes to depart the “420” Easter egg in filings, such because the the $54.20 he’s proposing for every share. He’s gotten himself in bother—a full SEC investigation, tens of millions in fines, and stepping down as chairman of Tesla—for tweeting “funding secured” for a bid to take Tesla non-public in 2018 when he had not, in reality, secured funding. The share value was—what else?—$420.

Musk has claimed he’s trying to break Twitter away from board management and open the platform as much as all customers to precise themselves, even some which were beforehand banned for successfully advocating violence. Many Republican officers have complained about misinformation being regulated by Twitter, and so they’re very a lot in favor of Musk’s takeover.

Musk has a wierd understanding of what it means for a social media firm to be open totally free speech. On April 19, Musk tweeted that “A social media platform’s policies are good if the most extreme 10% on left and right are equally unhappy.” As a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” this appears considerably of a self-defeating thought. It additionally ignores that, by their nature, probably the most excessive parts of both political spectrum are all the time going to be sad.