Elon Musk’s counteroffensive against Twitter may launch in less than two weeks’ time according to recent reports.
The self-made billionaire’s bid to buy the social media giant in an attempt to create a true free-speech platform was complicated when Twitter’s board, which has been known to take the opposite stance on many free-speech issues, adopted a “poison pill” policy, diluting his share of the company and, therefore, his leverage.
On Monday, a yet-to-be-confirmed report indicated that Musk was looking to circumvent this effort by teaming up with additional investors. Another report on Tuesday revealed that, according to the New York Post’s sources, Musk and his potential co-investors will be planning to launch a tender offer for Twitter in 10 days or so.
This investor team-up will be “a complex deal that raises debt against both the company and possibly [Musk’s] own stock, as well as a giant cash equity infusion from co-investors,” the Post reported.
“The co-investors will combined have more equity than Musk, but he will be the biggest single holder,” one of the Post’s sources said.
A Sunday report from Bloomberg also indicated such a deal could soon be on the way.
“Musk may try to partner with investors including Oracle Corp., given that its chief executive officer, Larry Ellison, is on [Tesla]’s board, along with a group of private equity firms including Thoma Bravo, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Mandeep Singh and Ashley Kim wrote Friday,” the report noted.
“That partnership could raise the bid to $50 billion, they wrote.”
🎶 Love Me Tender 🎶
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2022
In typical Musk-fashion, the billionaire playfully hinted he could soon be offering a tender offer directly to shareholders on Saturday with a tweet.
According to Investopedia, a “tender offer” invites “shareholders to sell their shares for a specified price and within a particular window of time. The price offered is usually at a premium to the market price and is often contingent upon a minimum or a maximum number of shares sold.”
Musk directly offering a deal to shareholders would constitute a “hostile takeover” of the company.
According to a recent report from The Western Journal, one expert who has correctly predicted many of Musk’s moves thus far believes the billionaire will be reaching his endgame in a matter of days.
Aron Solomon, the chief legal analyst for Esquire Digital, told The Western Journal that Musk is well-aware of how the constant news coverage of his acquisition has given him an advantage. Musk is not going to let that advantage go away.
“We’re going to forget about Elon Musk and Twitter three, four or five days from now if he allows it to go out of the news spotlight. So, I think that he’s got to make some really interesting, quick moves if he has an ultimate endgame here,” Solomon told The Western Journal.
“And if that endgame is to acquire more than 50 percent of Twitter, I think it makes more sense to get those things in motion now.”
“Like Elon Musk or not, one thing that we know is that he’s able to take things from zero to 60 very quickly, whether it’s SpaceX or Tesla or anything that he wants to do.”