Elon Musk secures $46.5 billion funding for Twitter takeover

Elon Musk has secured a $46.5 billion (over €42 billion) financing commitment to acquire Twitter and is considering starting a tender offer for its outstanding shares, according to a filing by US regulators on Thursday.

On April 14, 2022, the Tesla and SpaceX boss offered to buy all of the remaining shares in Twitter in a bid valuing the company at $43 billion (nearly €40 billion).

In a letter to Twitter’s chairman, Musk previously said the company needed to be transformed into a private company to become “the platform for free speech around the globe”.

“Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it,” he said.

A ‘tender’ offer

In recent days Musk has tweeted a cryptic message with just the words “is the Night,” with seven underscores for the blank space, a possible reference to the F. Scott Fitzgerald book Tender is the Night.

Musk had also earlier posted a tweet with “Love Me Tender,” bracketed by musical notes, referencing the song by Elvis Presley.

A tender offer would mean an offer to Twitter’s shareholders instead of the board. The offer is usually priced significantly above the current market price. This could allow Musk to own a majority stake in Twitter.

Poison pill

But Twitter had tried to thwart Musk’s takeover attempt with a “poison pill” — a financial device that companies have been wielding against unwelcome suitors for decades.

In recent weeks, Musk had amassed a more than 9 per cent stake in the social media company, making him the second-biggest shareholder. Twitter then offered Musk a position on Twitter’s board on the condition he could not buy more than 14.9 per cent of the company.

However, Musk declined the offer and made a bid to make Twitter private.

Twitter’s board is currently evaluating the bid and many investors and analysts say that rejection is likely, barring any changes to the offer from Musk.