Alex Bruno
The Post has learned that SpaceX plans to sell existing shares to a small group of purchasers on Tuesday and that Elon Musk may be one of the sellers. Musk has been attempting to collect additional money for his $44 billion Twitter proposal and is finding it difficult and costly, according to individuals familiar with the matter. Instead, the billionaire might sell SpaceX stock to help finance the purchase. According to federal documents, Elon Musk controlled 44 percent of SpaceX shares as of August.
According to a private placement source familiar with the circumstances, the tender offer is for existing shares rather than new stock. Musk’s business recently raised $337 million in December at a value of $100 billion. According to the private placement source, SpaceX will seek $70 per share this time around, a 25% increase from its last round, which saw a 10 to 1 stock split, equating to a $125 billion value.
Meanwhile, Musk is frantically raising funds for his Twitter bid. According to a banking source, he is in talks with private equity companies like Apollo Global Management and hedge funds about arranging $2 billion to $4 billion in preferred financing to replace his Tesla margin loans as well as part of the Morgan Stanley junior financing he has already secured. Tesla stock has fallen since Musk said last month that he would purchase Twitter. After hovering above $1,000 when the transaction was announced on April 25, the shares ended at $724.37 on Monday.
According to the banking source, Morgan Stanley has agreed to lend Twitter $3 billion in junior debt to finance the takeover, which might come with an extremely high-interest rate of 12 percent. According to loan sources, Musk’s statement on Friday disputing Twitter’s representation of its user size would not make acquiring debt funding any simpler.
“Now that he’s questioned Twitter’s user base, debt will be much difficult to sell,” the banker said. “He’s putting their finances at risk.”
Musk said on Monday that a feasible agreement to purchase Twitter for less than the $54.20 he agreed to pay on April 25 was not out of the question. In recent months, SpaceX has apparently had multiple successful launches. It conducted 19 rocket launches this year, including one on Friday, launching 53 satellites for its Starlink network, which delivers Internet connectivity to underserved places throughout the globe, including war-torn Ukraine. There were just 31 launches last year. SpaceX claims it will reach Mars before NASA this decade.
Source: NYPOST
