The backers of Musk’s proposed Twitter buyout have bailed him out: Elon Musk’s would-be acquisition of Twitter, which resumed yesterday, is significant. It’s about a price tag of $44 billion. And it looks like even the richest man in the world needs help paying that bill.
Musk’s fever dream of owning his preferred app still depends on big banks like Morgan Stanley and Bank of America providing $12.5 billion in leveraged loans and unsecured bonds, despite the fact that he sold about $32 billion worth of stock in his Tesla car company last year to raise some cash.
Two of the private investors the tycoon is inviting to join the bidding have reportedly just walked out. According to Reuters sources, investment firms Apollo Global Management and Sixth Street ended negotiations to secure financing for Musk’s deal.
The latter was expected to have considered a deal worth up to $1 billion. Sixth Street declined to comment, while representatives for Twitter and Apollo did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s requests for comment.
In case the lawyers don’t smash Musk’s phone, it seems inevitable that he’ll tweet his opinion as usual. However, he can tweet instead of texting. Several of Musk’s private chats with ultra-wealthy colleagues were made public in a legal disclosure before his trial in Delaware Court of Chancery.
When Twitter sued him to complete the acquisition after he tried to walk away from it. In those texts, he suggested that Oracle CEO Larry Ellison invest $2 billion in the transaction and also raised the possibility that Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, could spend up to $15 billion.
It’s possible Musk could go back to his Silicon Valley pals in exchange for their large sums of cash if the Apollo and Sixth Street talks fall through.
A day after Elon Musk announced his intention to buy Twitter anyway and avoid a lawsuit, a private equity firm that was supposed to finance part of the deal has pulled out.https://t.co/IGRNPKvY66
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) October 5, 2022
Meanwhile, he cast a favorable light on the agreement, saying it was a step towards development “X” or “X.com”, which he has referred to as “the app for everything”. Musk also responded to a tweet from Bloomberg reporter Ashley Vance that appeared to make light of his tumultuous business dealings.
“I’m surprised @elonmusk doesn’t use his unique ability to fly a rocket over someone’s house more during negotiations,” she wrote.
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