Elon Musk is known for his cheeky tweets. But the world’s richest person is also known for big business goals. As his $43 billion Twitter takeover bid continues to trigger buzz, the 50-year-old Tesla CEO ensured more legwork for the curious minds with another cryptic post. He tweeted the title of a 1956 hit by the legendary Elvis Presley – “Love me tender”.
While it could be seen as simply another post on the billionaire’s feed or a suggestion for the playlists of his 82.3 million followers, critics have dared to read between the lines, considering it a message of his investors as Musk ventures to uncharted waters of the social media world.
The word ‘tender’ is being linked to a potential tender offer by Musk to shareholders of microblogging giant Twitter in a bid to gain more control.
A tender offer is a bid to buy some or all of the shareholders’ stock in a specific company. Tender offers are usually made publicly where shareholders are invited to sell their shares for a certain price (usually higher than the companies’ current stock price) within a particular time frame.
A tender offer is typically set at a higher price per share than the company’s current stock price, providing shareholders a greater incentive to sell their shares, as per the common understanding.
On Saturday, the billionaire used an upside-down smiley emoji in a response to his four years old tweet about how much it would cost to buy Twitter Inc. He also wrote, “The economic interests of Twitter Inc.’s board are not aligned with shareholders,” after Twitter took steps to prevent Musk from ‘taking over’ the company.
The world’s richest person filed a $43 billion proposal, offering $54.20 a share for the social network last week, which caused Twitter to adopt a ‘poison-pill provision’ on Friday to make it harder for Musk to acquire more shares, news agency AP reported.
Experts are of the opinion that Musk will try to partner with other investors, including Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who is also on Twitter board.
Twitter shares have risen about 15 per cent since Musk disclosed a 9.2 per cent stake in the company on April 4, according to a Bloomberg report.
At an April 14 conference, Musk was quoted as saying that he is “unsure” if he’ll actually be able to acquire the company, adding that he has a back-up plan, without offering details.
(With inputs from AP, Bloomberg)
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