Elon Musk rolls out his plan to nab Twitter with $21 billion of his own money
Elon Musk has organized the funding required for him to buy Twitter.
All of it.
And on Wednesday, Musk rolled out his plan of action for the $46.5 billion in loans that will enable him to muster the total buyout of Twitter, in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Notably, it turns out that Musk himself is covering only $21 billion of the prospective buy — with the remaining $25.5 billion covered by a series of loans from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding.
But it seems Musk hasn't listed any equity partners to help him carry the financial load of not only his $21 billion, or even the greater $25.5-billion loan.
As of writing, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO already owns 9 percent of Twitter in stocks — collectively valued at roughly $2.9 billion.
One way or another, the game is on.
Twitter is executing a 'careful, comprehensive' review of Elon Musk's offer
In the filing, it's explicitly stated that Twitter has yet to give a formal reply to his offer: "The Reporting Person is seeking to negotiate a definitive agreement for the acquisition of Twitter by the Reporting Person," says the filing, "and is prepared to begin such negotiations immediately."
While no official reply has been given so far, a Twitter spokesperson did say that it had received Musk's proposed buyout, and is making a "careful, comprehensive" review. "We are in receipt of the updated, non-binding proposal from Elon Musk, which provides additional information regarding the original proposal and new information regarding the original proposal and new information on potential financing," added the spokesperson, according to an initial report from The Verge.
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"As previously anounnced and communicated to Mr. Musk directly, the Board is committed to conducting a careful, comprehensive and deliberate review to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company and all Twitter stockholders," the spokesperson added.
Musk stands by his 'free speech absolutist' position
The winding saga of Musk Buying Twitter has veered into new economic, social, and even psychological territory for society, with skepticism and speculation often overlapping about how Musk would execute his ambitious hostile takeover of Twitter.
Obviously, Musk is the richest person on Earth. So there's that going for him, with an estimated $249 billion to his name according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index. But Musk can't use all of his net worth, since the overwhelming majority is tied up in Tesla stock.
Of course, nothing is stopping him from borrowing money against that stock, but he can only use so much stock as collateral, according to a New York Times report. It's also a problem that Tesla's stock is not exactly renowned for maintaining a stable share price.
But regardless, Musk is resolute in his ambition to take over Twitter and alter the fabric of social reality — since he's not entirely wrong in calling the website "the de-facto town square". Musk has dubbed himself a "free speech absolutist", but has demonstrated no grasp of the evolution of the internet from the Web 1.0 days of dial-up to the vast collateral caused by untimely revelations of information in Web 2.0 — let alone the nature of the coming age of Web 3.0.
This was developing news and was regularly updated as new information became available.