Elon Musk has announced Thursday that he has secured the funding necessary to acquire Twitter.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who initially submitted a $43 billion bid to purchase the company at $54.20 per share, stated that he had partnered with private equity firm Morgan Stanley to fund his purchase. The new deal would be valued at $46.5 billion.
Musk stated that he would personally provide $21 billion, financed through equity in his own name. Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, would finance $13 billion through debt facilities, as well as $12.5 billion in marginal loans. Musk said he had received commitment letters from Morgan Stanley for both these offers.
Per the current process, Musk’s new bid with Morgan Stanley would have to be approved by a vote of all shareholders in collaboration with the board. Earlier this week, sources in the company told reporters that Twitter planned to reject Musk’s initial bid on April 28.
Separately, Musk also suggested that he would consider a “tender offer” to acquire Twitter. This would allow Musk to circumvent Twitter’s board of directors, by instead engaging other shareholders directly to reach a deal and force a vote to adopt it without the board’s consent. The idea was first suggested by Musk in an ambiguous Tweet on Tuesday, writing “______ is the night.” Many interpreted this as a reference to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Tender is the night,” hinting at a tender offer. Musk has been known before to make cryptic tweets heralding his financial decisions.
Twitter last week adopted a “poison pill” strategy to prevent a hostile takeover by Musk, which would involve issuing more shares in the company at a discount should any one shareholder acquire more than 15 percent of its stock. Musk, the richest man in the world, currently owns 9 percent of Twitter.
In response, Musk accused the board of breaching its “fiduciary duty,” which legally requires them to act in the best financial interests of the company.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that he was exploring options for legal action against Twitter for breaching this duty, in line with Musk’s claims. Florida’s Retirement System pension fund is an institutional investor in Twitter, and both DeSantis and Musk have previously criticized the platform for its alleged censorship of free speech.