Musk struggling to finance renewed offer to purchase Twitter: report

Tesla founder Elon Musk is reportedly struggling to secure the financing for his surprise offer to purchase the company after breaking off an original effort and prompting a lawsuit.

Musk announced in late April that he had secured a deal with the social media platform to purchase it for a sum of $44 billion. The billionaire ultimately backed out of the deal citing concerns about the prevalence of bot accounts on the site, which in turn prompted a lawsuit from Twitter to force him to complete the deal.

Amid the ongoing litigation, Twitter shareholders nonetheless voted to approve Musk's original bid which he shockingly offered to reinstate earlier this month to avoid a continued legal struggle.

The billionaire may, however, need to reach much deeper into his own pocket to gather the $44 billion sum. He reportedly planned to commit between $10-$15 billion of his own money, according to the New York Post. Musk had previously secured a number of co-investors who collectively committed $7.1 billion toward the acquisition.

Even if they follow through with Musk's second offer, he will still need to secure at least $19 billion more, an anonymous hedge fund manager the Post cited estimates. He reportedly does not wish to sell anymore Tesla stock to finance the deal, meaning Musk must either secure additional co-investors, pay out of pocket, or turn to additional debt financing to come up with the difference.

Twitter, however, remains unwilling to drop its suit until it has the entire $44 billion in hand, per the outlet. Musk's lawyers have pointed to the company's obstinacy in a recent court filing requesting a stay.

"Twitter will not take yes for an answer," his attorneys wrote, according to the Post. "Astonishingly, they have insisted on proceeding with this litigation, recklessly putting the deal at risk and gambling with their stockholders' interests... Proceeding toward trial is not only an enormous waste of party and judicial resources, it will undermine the ability of the parties to close the transaction."

Musk expects the deal to close on Oct. 28.