NEW YORK, May 3 — Elon Musk is in talks with large investment firms and high net-worth individuals about taking on more financing for his US$44 billion acquisition of Twitter IncMusk is the world’s richest person, with Forbes estimating his net worth at about US$245 billion. Yet most of his wealth is tied up in the shares of Tesla Inc, the electric car maker he leads. Last week, Musk disclosed he sold US$8.5 billion worth of Tesla stock following his agreement to buy Twitter.
Musk has also pledged some of his Tesla shares to banks to arrange a US$12.5 billion margin loan to help fund the deal. He may seek to trim the size of the margin loan based on the new investor interest in the deal financing, one of the sources said. Musk has also been in talks with some of Twitter’s major shareholders about the possibility of them rolling their stake into the deal rather than cashing out, one of the sources said. Former Twitter Chief Executive and current board member Jack Dorsey is examining whether he will roll his take, one source added.
The sources requested anonymity because the matter is confidential. Musk, Dorsey, Fidelity, Apollo and Ares did not immediately respond to requests for comment.