Elon Musk Unveils $46.5B In Financing To Buy Twitter, Is Considering Tender Offer Absent Board Response To Bid

Elon Musk has assembled financial commitments worth $46.5 billion to buy Twitter and said he is considering a tender offer – or going over management’s head to make his bid directly to shareholders — “but has not determined whether to do so at this time.”

He said in an SEC filing Thursday that Twitter has not yet responded to his offer to buy the company for $54.20 per share, or about $43 billion. The social media company did adopt a poison pill, or shareholders rights plan, that would make a hostile takeover more difficult.

Musk said he has three commitment letters in hand all dated April 20 for financing the deal. Two debt commitment letters are from Morgan Stanley and other financial institutions for, respectively, $13 billion and $12.5 billion. An equity commitment from Musk himself would cover the amounts not funded by those two, currently expected to be approximately $21 billion.

Musk made his offer to Twitter on April 13 after amassing a stake of 9.1% of the company and first toying with the idea of joining its board. The Tesla CEO is an avid user of the platform but said he wants it to police content less and leave it to function as an open “town square.”

His net worth is the highest in the world but his fortune is largely invested in Tesla, SpaceX and his other ventures, leading to speculation that he might have issues funding the acquisition. The SEC filing today seeks to set that to rest.

In a statement Thursday, a Twitter spokesperson said the company is “in receipt of the updated, non-binding proposal from Elon Musk, which provides additional information regarding the original proposal and new information on potential financing. As previously announced 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.”

Twitter shares are changing hands at close to $47 in midafternoon trading.