Well, Elon Musk Has Secured the $46.5B to Buy Twitter in Just a Few Days

Elon Musk says he has gathered up more than enough cash to follow through on his bid to buy Twitter. In a new SEC filing Thursday morning, he confirmed that he has secured the full $46.5 billion funding in commitment letters from Morgan Stanley and other financial institutions. Musk also floated that he may explore a “tender offer” to buy the social network in an effort to circumvent Twitter’s poison pill defense to his first offer.

A tender offer would appeal directly to a company’s shareholders, rather than its board. If Musk decides to officially pursue his Plan B, he would essentially be offering to buy each Twitter shareholder out at $54.20 per share. If he convinces enough shareholders to sell to him, he would eventually gain a controlling interest in the company. Tender offers can be associated with a hostile takeover, because they bypass the company’s leadership and appeal directly to shareholders.

It can also be a more expensive option for the buyer. If another bidder appeals to shareholders, they can raise the price and Musk could end up having to pay even more to buy a majority. Already, Apollo Global Management, which owns Yahoo, has expressed interest in buying Twitter.

Musk’s tender offer plan won’t be a surprise to his 82 million Twitter followers. Earlier this week, he tweeted the not-so-veiled message: “—– is the night”, a reference to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Tender is the Night.”