Elon Musk Has The Billions For A Twitter Bid. But Twitter Investors Remain Unsold.

Funding Securing—no, really, Elon Musk promises, funding secured.

Musk is working with Twitter to inform investors about his plans to purchase the company. He was once a joker about the possibility of privatizing one public corporation. In a new SEC filling, he said he’d finance the $43 billion offer for Twitter through a combination of Morgan Stanley debt and equity financing he’d contribute himself. Musk claims that he’s secured $46.5 billion in debt and equity financing, which gives him a bit of cushion.

By adopting a poison pill defense last Friday, Twitter’s board has signaled it isn’t much interested in Musk’s proposal. If Musk wants this to happen, he will need support from Twitter shareholders.

They’re not sold on it yet either. Twitter stock rose only 0.4% on Thursday to $47.08 a share, considerably less than Musk’s $54.20-a-share offer. The stock has risen since Musk went public with the takeover a week ago, but there has remained a gap between the current share price and Musk’s offer price, a blinking warning light that investors aren’t confident he’ll pull it off. Or maybe they don’t want him. Most likely, they will choose one of these options.

Musk must win wide shareholder support. The poison pill and the board’s reluctance to engage with him means the next step is a formal tender offer. In such a transaction, Musk will ask shareholders to sell him the shares—to tender them. Investors with unrequested bids are used this tactic to thwart stiff resistance from the company they want to purchase.

There may be funding. Are shareholders supportive? It’s not so.