Musk’s SpaceX selling shares possibly to finance Twitter bid, sources say
SpaceX is planning to sell existing shares starting Tuesday to a select group of buyers and there is speculation Elon Musk is a seller, The New York Post has learned.
Musk has been trying to raise more money for his $44 billion Twitter bid and is not only having a difficult time but finding it expensive, sources close to the situation said.
The billionaire could sell SpaceX shares instead to help fund the acquisition. As of August, the Tesla tycoon owned 44 percent of the SpaceX shares, according to federal filings.
The tender offer is for existing shares and not new stock, a private placement source close to the situation told The Post.
The company controlled by Musk last raised $337 million in December at a $100 billion valuation.
This time around, the private placement source said, SpaceX is going to seek $70 a share — a 25 percent increase from its last round, after which there was a 10 to 1 stock split — equivalent to around $125 billion valuation.
Meanwhile, Musk has been scrambling to raise more money for his Twitter bid.
He is speaking to private equity firms, including Apollo Global Management and hedge funds, about raising $2 billion to $4 billion in preferred financing to replace his margin loans against Tesla, and also to replace some of the Morgan Stanley junior financing he has already arranged, a banking source said.
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