Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has been in the news recently for his ongoing effort to buy the social media site Twitter.
While his free-speech rhetoric is resonating with many critics of the site, plenty of progressives are concerned about what might happen if Musk takes over.
Although he has been toying with the idea for some time, news broke this week that he has apparently secured nearly $48 billion in financing to back up his plan.
As The Western Journal reported:
When Musk went public with his proposed offer to buy Twitter, the biggest question that remained was how exactly he was bankrolling the offer.
But in a new filing, he said he has lined up more than $25 billion in debt commitments from banks such as Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp. and other European and Asian banks. About half of the debt commitments are secured by his shares in Tesla, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Musk is then personally committing $21 billion in equity.
One source familiar with the matter told the Journal that he is still considering bringing in an equity partner and has continued to receive interest in the matter.
The new filing outlining the financing also stated that Musk has not yet determined he will make a tender offer for Twitter or whether he will take other steps to further the proposal, CNBC News reported.
Musk’s plan is clearly very popular among a large group of Twitter users.
ELON MUSK is a Capitalist. He is buying Twitter to set our FREEDOM of SPEECH free from the rats, rodents, and reptiles hiding in Twitters WOKE Corporate Culture. I love capitalism. I love freedom. I love Elon.
— Robert Kiyosaki (@theRealKiyosaki) April 19, 2022
The Left is pulling out all the stops against @ElonMusk and his free speech agenda against censorship on @Twitter.@FoxNews
@JudicialWatch pic.twitter.com/AUSLqu7Ghi— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) April 20, 2022
What a week, we got to see the meltdown over Elon Musk buying Twitter, meltdown over no more masks on planes and CNN+ failing in historic fashion. Delicious.
— Tyler Zed (@realTylerZed) April 21, 2022
Twitter executives, however, have thus far resisted any effort to buy the company.
According to CNN:
Twitter’s board said on Friday it was implementing a shareholder rights plan, known as a “poison pill,” that would make it harder and more expensive for Musk (or any other would-be buyer) to acquire the company without the board’s approval. The plan came a day after Musk made an offer to acquire all the shares in Twitter (TWTR) he does not own for $54.20 a piece, valuing the company at around $41 billion. That represents a 38% premium over Twitter’s closing share price the day before Musk’s large ownership stake was revealed.
The poison pill plan, detailed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, will remain in place for nearly a year and will be triggered if Musk (or any other investor) expands his stake in the company to 15%; he currently owns around 9% of shares. It would give all other shareholders the right to buy one additional share for each share they own at a discount. While other shareholders executing their rights to buy new stock under the plan would have to pay $210 for each new share they purchased, Musk (or another hostile investor) would have to pay $420. (Twitter’s team proved Musk isn’t the only one capable of spicing up a serious corporate standoff with marijuana references.)
It remains to be seen whether Musk will be successful in bypassing this poison pill by buying up stocks from other shareholders.
In any case, he is sure to continue sparking controversy and debate with his pointed criticism of Twitter and other left-leaning tech firms.
Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson digs into the story in the following clip.
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