Electric car pioneer Elon Musk is plotting to spend up to $15 billion of his own cash to take Twitter private and will launch a second takeover bid in 10 days, it has been claimed, Trend reports citing Daily Mail.
The billionaire, who is Twitter's second-biggest shareholder with a 9.1 percent stake, has tapped Morgan Stanley to raise $10 billion in debt and will make his next offer in a week-and-a-half, according to the New York Post.
The Tesla chief, currently the world's richest man with $273 billion, is also looking to borrow against his existing 9.2 per cent in the company, which could mean several billion dollars more to make his bid, the Post reported.
Shares in the social media app dropped nearly 5 percent to $46.16 in afternoon trade, a deep discount from the $54.30 that Musk offered last week in his initial bid for the platform.
The company hit its highest share price in February 2021 at $77.06.
Twitter wouldn't comment on the threat and Musk, who is the firm's second-biggest shareholder did not respond to requests for comment.
The Space X honcho seems to already working on how to improve Twitter's performance.
'A social media platform's policies are good if the most extreme 10% on left and right are equally unhappy,' he tweeted.
Musk has repeatedly infuriated woke Twitter staffers with vows to bolster the site's free speech protections, after it was accused of censoring conservative voices with views it considers 'harmful.'
The social media company's board approved a 'poison pill' defense last week to prevent the Silicone Valley titan from a $43 billion taking over offer of the company.
Under the plan, if anyone acquires 15 percent of the company's common stock without the board's OK, other shareholders can buy up additional shares at a discount, thereby diluting the share price. The plan is good until April 14, 2023.
'The Rights Plan will reduce the likelihood that any entity, person or group gains control of Twitter through open market accumulation without paying all shareholders an appropriate control premium,' according to a board statement.