Elon Musk Says He Has $46.5 Billion In Funding For Twitter Bid

In a regulatory filing, Mr Musk also said he was considering taking his offer directly to Twitter shareholders, bypassing a board that appears to be dug in. Twitter said Thursday it was reviewing the new detailed proposal.

The funding commitments — about half in the form of bank debt and the other half in cash, promised by Mr Musk himself — lend credence to what has so far looked more like a personal lark than a bona fide takeover gamble. When he made his offer last week, Mr. Musk didn’t say how he planned to pay for the deal, which is expensive for even the world’s richest man.

Now he says he owes $25 billion to a group of banks including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp. and Barclays BCS -0.32% PLC. About half is secured by his stake in Tesla Inc., TSLA 3.24%, which would require him to pledge more than a third of his $170 billion stake. Mr. Musk will personally provide $21 billion in equity, which is equivalent to a down payment on a home.

People familiar with the matter said Mr Musk is still considering bringing on potential equity partners and has held discussions with some.

The additional $3.5 billion — its bid for Twitter stock is about $43 billion — is likely due to the company’s outstanding bonds, which may need to be repaid, and the hundreds of millions of dollars in fees , which will go to the Wall Street banks in the event of the deal being dealt with.

Twitter shares were little changed as of Thursday afternoon. They traded well below Mr Musk’s offer of $54.20 per share, a sign investors are skeptical.

Twitter is likely to still decline his offer, which he described as “the best and final,” in the coming days, people familiar with the matter said.

As Elon Musk attempts to buy Twitter, the WSJ looks back at Twitter’s former suitors like Salesforce, Disney, and Alphabet. Tech reporter Tim Higgins explains why those past talks failed and what’s different this time. Figure: Nikki Walker

But the financing commitments could force the company to negotiate. They are in contrast to the last time Mr. Musk flirted with buying a public company. In 2018, he tweeted that he had “secure funding” to take Tesla private. No money or formal offer materialized, and U.S. prosecutors later determined he never had it in a row.

He said Thursday he was considering making a so-called takeover bid, a direct offer to shareholders that bypasses the board. In a series of not-so-cryptic tweets — “_____ Is the Night” and “Love Me Tender _____” — he’s hinted as much over the past few days.

That effort would be complicated by a defensive move taken by Twitter’s board of directors last week. It has introduced a poison pill, a legal maneuver that prevents Mr. Musk from amassing more than 15% of the company by offering any other investor cheap shares that would dilute his stake.

Mr. Musk is a Twitter power user with over 82 million followers and a long history of expressing his views on everything from space to cryptocurrencies. He began buying Twitter stock in January, becoming the largest single investor by April with a stake of more than 9%.

He has since used his Twitter account to criticize the company, particularly its approach to content moderation, which he says hinders freedom of expression.

It is still unknown whether further applicants for Twitter could emerge. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that private equity firms like Apollo Global Management Inc. APO -4.98% and Thoma Bravo LP are stepping in, and corporate suitors like Walt Disney Co. and Salesforce Inc. have made offers in the past have given up.

But the fact that nearly every blue-chip global investment bank is participating in Mr. Musk’s bid — with the exception of both Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase JPM -0.69% & Co., which advise Twitter in their response — is suggestive to point out that there isn’t any competing bidder waiting to show up.

– Will Feuer contributed to this article.

write to Cara Lombardo at [email protected] and Liz Hoffman at [email protected]