Elon Musk can’t spend it fast enough. The Tesla chief executive has lined up a $46.5 billion financing package to buy Twitter , if he decides to give it a go. It could entail him personally raising some $33 billion, on top of the $4 billion-worth of Twitter stock he already owns. That might require him to sell most of his Tesla shares that aren’t pledged against loans. But for him and Tesla's other shareholders, it’s less risky than it looks. That's because Tesla's recent financial performance has triggered plenty more essentially free shares for Musk.
- Elon Musk said in a securities filing on April 21 that he has lined up a total of $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter should he choose to launch a hostile bid. Musk, who is chief executive of electric-car maker Tesla, has conditionally offered to buy the social network for $54.20 per share. He already owns more than 9% of the company.
- Morgan Stanley and other banks have committed to providing $13 billion in loans. The investment bank and other lenders have also agreed to provide $12.5 billion in margin loans to Musk against Tesla stock. Musk has committed to cover the remaining amount, including fees, which is estimated to be $21 billion. Some private equity firms are considering participating in a possible deal, according to news reports.
- Taken together with previous financial performance Tesla’s first-quarter earnings, released on April 20, were sufficient to surpass milestones that trigger vesting of three tranches of Musk’s 2018 pay package, pending board approval. Each tranche gives him the right to buy 8.4 million shares at $70 each. At Tesla’s share price of $1,023 at 14:00 GMT on April 22, their total value to Musk is around $24 billion.
- As of Dec. 31, Musk owned 172.6 million Tesla shares and 59.1 million options exercisable within 60 days, according to a filing with regulators. As of June 30, 2021, 88.3 million of his shares in the carmaker were pledged as collateral to secure personal indebtedness.Editing by Richard Beales, Pranav Kiran and Sharon LamOpinions expressed are those of the author.
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