Elon Musk Provides IDR 668 Trillion In Debt And Equity To Buy Twitter

Elon Musk is getting serious about setting up funds to buy Twitter. (photo: screenshot)

JAKARTA - Elon Musk said on Thursday, April 21 that he had set aside $46.5 billion in debt and equity financing to buy social networking company Twitter Inc. He is even considering making an offer directly to shareholders. This is known in a report to US regulators.

Musk himself has committed to providing US$33.5 billion (IDR 481.2 trillion), which will include US$21 billion (IDR 301.7 trillion) in equity and US$12.5 billion (IDR 179.5 trillion) in equity. margin loans against some shares of Tesla Inc. This fund was prepared to finance the transaction. Musk is the CEO of the automotive company Tesla.

Musk, the world's richest person according to a Forbes report, on April 14 made a "best and final" cash offer of $43 billion to Twitter's board of directors.

Musk, Twitter's second-largest shareholder with a 9.1 percent stake, said he could make a big difference in the micro-blogging company. Musk himself currently has more than 80 million followers on social media.

Twitter shares immediately rose less than 1 percent amid news of this funding emerged. This suggests that the market is still skeptical about the deal, given that Twitter is expected to reject Musk's offer.

Tesla shares were up 8 percent in late morning trade. This was lifted by better-than-expected earnings from the electric vehicle maker.

Banks, including Morgan Stanley, have agreed to provide Musk with $13 billion in debt backed by Twitter stock itself.

Musk's latest move comes after Twitter failed to respond to his offer. Instead, they adopted a "poison pill" to thwart the billionaire's attempts to buy the social media platform. While the Twitter Council was not available to comment on the offer.

Musk, who has described himself as "absolute free speech", said social media companies needed to be private companies to grow and become platforms for free speech.

Reuters also reports that Musk's offering has attracted private equity interest to participate in the deal for Twitter.

Apollo Global Management Inc is considering ways to provide financing for any deal and is open to working with Musk or other bidders. Meanwhile, Thoma Bravo has informed Twitter that they are exploring the possibility of making a similar offer.

Musk himself has made a number of announcements on the Twitter platform, including some that have gotten him into trouble with US regulators.

In 2018, Musk tweeted that he had "earned funds" to make Tesla private at 420 per share. The move led to a multimillion-dollar fine and he was forced to step down as Tesla chairman to settle claims by the US securities regulator that he defrauded investors of his 2018 tweet.