Elon Musk admitted Wednesday that he’s “obviously” overpaying to acquire Twitter Inc., but said the social network’s long-term potential far surpasses its current value.
Speaking in a conference call following Tesla Inc.’s quarterly earnings Wednesday, the EV company’s chief executive said Twitter
TWTR,
has “incredible potential.”
““The long-term potential for Twitter, in my view, is an order of magnitude greater than its current value.””
“I am excited about the Twitter situation,” Musk said, according to a FactSet transcript, “because obviously I know that part incredibly well. And I think it’s massive … and has sort of languished for a long time but has incredible potential.”
“Although obviously, myself and the other investors are obviously overpaying for it with Twitter right now,” he added.
Musk’s self-proclaimed excitement comes after he finally offered to end his efforts to back out of the $44 billion deal for Twitter, which he agreed to buy at $54.20 a share in April. A trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery has been postponed, and Musk and Twitter have until Oct. 28 to finalize a deal.
Also see: Twitter lawyers said Musk was being investigated over acquisition conduct
Musk added Wednesday that it’s unlikely that he will bring all of his companies, which include Tesla
TSLA,
SpaceX and Neuralink, under a single corporate umbrella.
“I’m not Warren Buffett,” he said. “I’m not an investor. I am an engineer and a manufacturing person and a technologist… we are not going to have a portfolio of investments or whatever.”
Twitter ended trading Wednesday at $52.58 a share, up about 25% since Oct. 4, when he announced his intention to go through with the purchase.
