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Wrong. He could probably borrow $43bn against Tesla shares in a few weeks at the most. He doesn't have to sell any Tesla shares.

mcintyre1994 5y ago
Tesla has a rule that you can only borrow 25% of the value against the shares. From Money Stuff: > Or Musk could borrow more against his Tesla stake. Tesla’s own policies prohibit Musk from borrowing more than 25% of the value of his shares, which is barely enough to buy Twitter, even ignoring the fact that he has already used at least some of that capacity. Of course he’s in charge of Tesla and its board is famously deferential to him, so I guess he could change those policies, but that still requires finding a bank to lend him $40 billion against his Tesla stake to finance this lark. Tesla’s stock has quadrupled since mid-2020; if it fell back to mid-2020 levels — say because its charismatic attention-seeking CEO found a new toy — then the loan would be underwater, and selling out of a gigantic Tesla margin loan does not seem like a lot of fun for a bank.
- cloutchaser 5y ago
  I didn’t know that, thanks!
- Seanambers 5y ago
  Well he do own approx 50% of another company worth around 100 billion. I'm sure he could manage to finance this just fine.
  - vidarh 5y ago
    He also does not need to fund all of it; just enough that a bank would be willing to consider the Twitter shares he is purchasing as collateral for the rest of the loan.
    - LightG 5y ago
      You're not allowing for risk and exposure. This is a lot of money, even for Musk. I don't see this deal happening. He can't afford it (without exposing himself to unnecessary risk). If it does go through in the ways described here, he's an idiot ... and I don't believe that, despite my personal opinions about him.
      - vidarh 5y ago
        Of course it's a lot of money and a lot of risk, but like him or hate him one thing Musk has consistently showed is that he's willing to take huge risks. This deal likely won't haooen, but due to the poison pill, not due to the risk. But in any case, my point was merely exactly what I wrote: he does not need to raise anywhere near the full amount, because he can utilize the shares he buy as part of the collateral.

mcintyre1994 5y ago

Tesla has a rule that you can only borrow 25% of the value against the shares. From Money Stuff: > Or Musk could borrow more against his Tesla stake. Tesla’s own policies prohibit Musk from borrowing more than 25% of the value of his shares, which is barely enough to buy Twitter, even ignoring the fact that he has already used at least some of that capacity. Of course he’s in charge of Tesla and its board is famously deferential to him, so I guess he could change those policies, but that still requires finding a bank to lend him $40 billion against his Tesla stake to finance this lark. Tesla’s stock has quadrupled since mid-2020; if it fell back to mid-2020 levels — say because its charismatic attention-seeking CEO found a new toy — then the loan would be underwater, and selling out of a gigantic Tesla margin loan does not seem like a lot of fun for a bank.

cloutchaser 5y ago
I didn’t know that, thanks!
Seanambers 5y ago
Well he do own approx 50% of another company worth around 100 billion. I'm sure he could manage to finance this just fine.
- vidarh 5y ago
  He also does not need to fund all of it; just enough that a bank would be willing to consider the Twitter shares he is purchasing as collateral for the rest of the loan.
  - LightG 5y ago
    You're not allowing for risk and exposure. This is a lot of money, even for Musk. I don't see this deal happening. He can't afford it (without exposing himself to unnecessary risk). If it does go through in the ways described here, he's an idiot ... and I don't believe that, despite my personal opinions about him.
    - vidarh 5y ago
      Of course it's a lot of money and a lot of risk, but like him or hate him one thing Musk has consistently showed is that he's willing to take huge risks. This deal likely won't haooen, but due to the poison pill, not due to the risk. But in any case, my point was merely exactly what I wrote: he does not need to raise anywhere near the full amount, because he can utilize the shares he buy as part of the collateral.