The $33B evaluation takes the last price for a single trade and multiplies it by the total number of Twitter shares in existence.
But you could only buy half of Twitter for $16.5B if half of the current shareholders agreed to sell at the last price for a single trade. Most, if not all, current shareholders of Twitter won't sell for that cheap. I suspect the index funds and other institutional investors won't sell for any price. So it would cost significantly more than $16.5B to buy half of Twitter.
It's like someone trying to build a shopping mall where there's currently a neighborhood of houses. Each house might be worth $200K, but there will be some homeowners holding out for a larger payment, and some that might not sell at all. You can't build the shopping mall until you have all of the land.
A "trade" means you have a counterparty. So if you want to buy, someone else has to sell, and you both have to agree on price.
I'm saying that I don't see a way for Elon to convince more than half of Twitter shareholders to sell their shares, which would give Elon a controlling majority. The only feasible way to do it would be to end up paying much more than the shares are worth right now.
Is it even possible?
Easily. The balance of available shares in Twitter is $33 billion dollars.
The SEC already announced they are looking at Musk's Twitter moves.
Panic.
The $33B evaluation takes the last price for a single trade and multiplies it by the total number of Twitter shares in existence.
But you could only buy half of Twitter for $16.5B if half of the current shareholders agreed to sell at the last price for a single trade. Most, if not all, current shareholders of Twitter won't sell for that cheap. I suspect the index funds and other institutional investors won't sell for any price. So it would cost significantly more than $16.5B to buy half of Twitter.
It's like someone trying to build a shopping mall where there's currently a neighborhood of houses. Each house might be worth $200K, but there will be some homeowners holding out for a larger payment, and some that might not sell at all. You can't build the shopping mall until you have all of the land.
So, no comment on the SEC panic?
https://youtu.be/cRNypdYQoWk
What if there is a dark pool for the full amount and they do a single, after hours trade?
A "trade" means you have a counterparty. So if you want to buy, someone else has to sell, and you both have to agree on price.
I'm saying that I don't see a way for Elon to convince more than half of Twitter shareholders to sell their shares, which would give Elon a controlling majority. The only feasible way to do it would be to end up paying much more than the shares are worth right now.