Elon Musk claims he has lined up $46.5 billion in funding for Twitter takeover bid

By Clare Duffy, CNN Business

Elon Musk on Thursday said he has lined up commitments worth $46.5 billion to finance a Twitter takeover deal, one week after he first made a public offer to buy the social media company.

Musk said he has commitment letters to finance the deal, including two debt commitment letters from Morgan Stanley and other unnamed financial institutions and one equity commitment letter from himself, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.

Musk said in the filing that he has yet to receive any formal response from Twitter’s board to his offer to acquire all of its shares that he does not currently own for $54.20 a piece, a deal that would value the company at around $41 billion. He said he is “seeking to negotiate” a definite acquisition agreement and “is prepared to begin such negotiations immediately” — an apparent reversal from his statement in his acquisition offer letter that it would be his “best and final” offer.

Twitter shareholders wonder what Musk’s next move will be in takeover battle

Questions about whether Musk would actually be able to finance his acquisition of Twitter swirled in the days following his takeover bid. Although he is the richest person in the world, much of Musk’s wealth is tied up in Tesla stock, and some followers of the company speculated that it could be challenging for Musk to raise debt against the historically volatile stock.

While Twitter’s board has not formally responded to Musk’s offer, it implemented a so-called poison pill on Friday, a defensive measure that could make it harder for him (or any other investor) to buy or take a controlling stake in the company without its approval.

Musk said in his Thursday filing that he is “exploring” whether to launch a tender offer — a move to buy Twitter stock en masse directly from shareholders that could put additional pressure on the board — but “has not determined whether to do so at this time.” Musk has previously alluded to the possibility of a tender offer in several recent tongue-in-cheek tweets, including one with a fill-in-the-blank word followed by “is the night.”