Some claim that Elon Musk’s $44bn deal to acquire Twitter is the largest leveraged buyout in history. It’s a moot point, said The New York Times: Dealogic thinks it is merely the biggest in the past two decades. But that doesn’t detract from the shock and awe. This was indeed “one of the most frenzied and unpredictable takeover bids ever”, said Bloomberg. A month ago, Musk’s main connection to the social media platform was as “a prolific user”. In quick succession, “he outed himself as Twitter’s largest shareholder, a short-lived prospective board member, a hostile suitor, and finally a successful dealmaker”. Musk moved at “breakneck speed” – he even “waived the chance to look at Twitter’s finances beyond what was publicly available”. A big breakthrough was speedily securing the finance for the purchase. After bringing on Morgan Stanley as an adviser, Musk “was able to get a dozen banks to commit $25.5bn in debt financing”, pledging another $21bn in equity financing himself. The bankers were impressed. One said that “while Musk has a public persona of shooting from the hip, in private he was curious, thoughtful and open to feedback”.
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