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Musk secured $46.5 billion for Twitter bid
The Twitter icon on a mobile phone. Photo: Matt Rourke/AP/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Already last week he had announced that he wants to buy Twitter and delist it from the stock exchange. Tech billionaire Musk is now announcing financing commitments. But investors doubt that he will reach his goal.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk says he has $46.5 billion in funding to launch a takeover bid for Twitter.
He is considering launching a formal bid to all shareholders for the online service’s outstanding shares, the SEC said in a filing. Musk has commitments for loans of over $25 billion and also wants to bring in shares worth around $21 billion.
Musk announced last week that he intends to buy and delist Twitter. He named a price of 54.20 dollars per share, which would correspond to a total value of around 43 billion dollars (currently around 39.5 billion euros).
Twitter’s board of directors then launched a defensive measure, allowing other shareholders to buy shares at lower prices as soon as a buyer like Musk exceeds the 15 percent mark. That would dilute his stake. Musk has bought a 9 percent stake in the company over the past few months. At the same time, Twitter is keeping the option open of agreeing to a deal if the price is right.
Even after the announcement of the financing commitments, investors doubt that Musk will reach his goal: Twitter shares were up 0.3 percent in early US trading at just around $47.
Tesla boss Musk is by far the richest person in the world. However, the fortune consists almost exclusively of shares in the electric car manufacturer and its space company SpaceX, so that he would also have to resort to credit for a Twitter purchase.