Tesla CEO Elon Musk is talking to investors he could potentially include in his bid to acquire social media platform Twitter — reports The New York Post.
Musk this week made a formal offer to purchase Twitter for $43 billion USD in cash after buying a 9.1% stake in the social media giant to become its largest shareholder earlier in the month. The Tesla CEO was originally invited to join Twitter’s board of directors, but he instead set his sights on acquiring the company outright.
According to sources close to the matter, Musk could announce a new plan that includes one or more partners within days. One likely possibility, the sources said, is for Musk to team up with private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners.
“This is not over,” said a source close to the situation.
Musk and Silver Lake go way back — the equity firm was planning to co-invest in Tesla to take the electric vehicle (EV) maker private in 2018. Egon Durban, co-CEO of Silver Lake, is a member of Twitter’s board and reportedly led Musk’s deal team during the (failed) 2018 effort to take Tesla private.
It remains to be seen whether Musk’s talks with potential partners will even bear any fruit and, if they do, whether Musk will simply add them to his existing bid or present Twitter with an entirely new proposal — perhaps raising the current offer.
Twitter’s board of directors on Friday announced the unanimous adoption of a limited duration shareholder rights plan, commonly referred to as a “poison pill,” just one day after Musk tendered his offer to buy the company.
The so-called poison pill will prevent Musk from buying more than 15% of Twitter, keeping any hostile takeover efforts from the Tesla CEO at bay for the time being.
However, the move may not stop other entities or people from acquiring their own stakes of up to 15% in the company and working with Musk to force a sale, make changes in Twitter’s executive leadership, or push for other changes in the company.
Twitter is yet to file its shareholder rights plan with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC filing will include more details on whether the poison pill prevents like-minded investors from teaming up to buy a greater than 15% stake in the company.
