OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is upping the ante in his fight to purchase the social media platform Twitter.
According to the New Post, Musk has tapped Morgan Stanley to help raise funds, around $10 billion, to mount a takeover of Twitter.
The report alleges that Musk is prepared to use $15 billion of his own cash and will make his move within 10 days.
For this move to succeed, Musk needs a majority of Twitter’s shareholders to agree to a tender offer made directly to them by Musk and his backers.
Then, Musk can change the Twitter board and remove the “poison pill” the company adopted against him last week, which was aimed at stopping his “hostile takeover.”
“The co-investors will combined have more equity than Musk but he will be the biggest single holder,” one source told the Post.
“Private equity firms don’t get paid for headline risk,” one source said, hinting that Musk’s ability to create controversy may scare off some investors.
“A lot of private equity firms are doing the work and struggling on the valuation,” a source said. “This is not growing like Instagram or TikTok. You can only raise $10 billion of bank debt, and then maybe some preferred shares. Twitter does not have a whole lot of cash flow.”
BREAKING: Elon Musk is reportedly set to launch a tender offer in 10 days, attempting to publicly takeover Twitter.
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) April 19, 2022
Twitter issued a statement that made it clear they are attempting to block Musk’s takeover attempts.
“Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) today announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously adopted a limited duration shareholder rights plan (the “Rights Plan”). The Board adopted the Rights Plan following an unsolicited, non-binding proposal to acquire Twitter,” the statement began.
“The Rights Plan is intended to enable all shareholders to realize the full value of their investment in Twitter. The Rights Plan will reduce the likelihood that any entity, person, or group gains control of Twitter through open market accumulation without paying all shareholders an appropriate control premium or without providing the Board sufficient time to make informed judgments and take actions that are in the best interests of shareholders,” the statement added.
“The Rights Plan does not prevent the Board from engaging with parties or accepting an acquisition proposal if the Board believes that it is in the best interests of Twitter and its shareholders. The Rights Plan is similar to other plans adopted by publicly held companies in comparable circumstances,” the statement continued.
“Under the Rights Plan, the rights will become exercisable if an entity, person or group acquires beneficial ownership of 15% or more of Twitter’s outstanding common stock in a transaction not approved by the Board. In the event that the rights become exercisable due to the triggering ownership threshold being crossed, each right will entitle its holder (other than the person, entity or group triggering the Rights Plan, whose rights will become void and will not be exercisable) to purchase, at the then-current exercise price, additional shares of common stock having a then-current market value of twice the exercise price of the right. The Rights Plan will expire on April 14, 2023,” the statement concluded.
Musk posted a three-word tweet on Monday that could mean just about anything but has some speculating that he is foreshadowing his next move to buy the social media behemoth Twitter.
In between tweets that wished the world a happy Easter holiday and the achievements of one of the companies he founded, SpaceX, he posted “Love Me Tender.”
Last week, Musk made an offer to pay $54.20 per share to buy Twitter, which would amount to around $43 billion.
