Elon Musk will take Twitter public again but is seeking additional funding, suggests report

Elon Musk smiling with a Twitter and tick icons with cash piles at the bottom

Twitter as a platform has undergone a massive shift from a publicly-traded company to private ownership. However, the micro-blogging network’s new owner, Elon Musk, plans to re-list Twitter.

Twitter shares could be available for purchase again, indicates a new report by the Wall Street Journal. Elon Musk, who recently agreed to purchase all of Twitter’s publicly traded shares, has indicated he plans to re-list Twitter on the stock exchanges. Elon Musk has promised to take Twitter private in a deal valued at $44 billion.

Musk has reportedly informed potential investors about his plans to return the social-media company to public ownership after just a few years. Although Musk hasn’t specified the exact timeline, he expects to put forth an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Twitter within three years.

In April 2022, Elon Musk put together an all-cash offer worth about $44 billion to acquire Twitter. He came up with the offer by financing the deal with $21 billion in equity and a $12.5 billion loan against his shares in Tesla. He even sold a few of his Tesla shares to cement the deal.

Taking Twitter private is certainly one of the largest buy-outs in history. However, convincing large investors about Twitter’s future financial prospects may be proving difficult for Musk. The report suggests Musk is in talks with large investment firms and high net-worth individuals about taking on more financing for his $44 billion deal.

It is apparent that Elon Musk doesn’t want to tie up a large portion of his wealth in this single deal. Hence, it is likely he may have pitched the idea of taking Twitter public in the future to not only recoup the $44 billion but make some profit from the investment as well.

Musk’s plans to relist Twitter seem contradictory to his intentions behind purchasing the platform and taking it private. At a recent TED conference, he said:

I don’t care about the economics at all. This is just my strong, intuitive sense that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization.

With about 220 million active daily users, Twitter may be a potent social media platform, but it is way smaller than not just Facebook but also Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.