Elon Musk
(Picture: REUTERS)Elon Musk is considering bypassing Twitter’s board and going directly to the social media company’s shareholders with his $43 billion takeover bid.
A new filing on Thursday show the TeslaCEO is considering a so-called tender offer for Twitter, which would involve approaching the company’s shareholders directly with his $54.20 a share bid.
Twitter’s board has yet to officially respond to the offer but adopted a so-called “poison pill” strategy over the weekend that would make it far more costly for Musk to succeed.
The billionaire had hinted he could launch a tender offer in recent days, firing off several cryptic tweets including the word “tender.”
Thursday’s filing also shows Musk has lined up funding for his bid, despite some initial doubts that he would be able to finance the bid. He has received letters committing $46.5 billion, including around $25.5 billion in debt from Morgan Stanley and other financial intuitions. Musk will chip in $21 billion of his own money.
Morgan Stanley is advising Musk on his hostile bid attempt.
Twitter shares rose half a percent at the open in New York to reach $46.90 but remain well below the bid level after the board’s “poison pill” resolution.
Musk announced his surprise bid for Twitter last week, saying he could “unlock” the company’s “potential” and promising to protect free speech.
The unsolicited approach came less than two weeks after the Tesla boss first revealed he had built a 9.2% in Twitter worth around $3 billion, making him the San Francisco-based company’s biggest shareholder.
Musk has said his bid is a “best and final” offer, though some analysts have said the price is too low. Twitter was trading at $70 a share as recently as last October.
Elsewhere, Musk’s main company, Tesla, reported record quarterly earnings and profits overnight. Shares jumped 10% at the open on Wall Street today in the biggest gain since January.
