Apollo Global Management could participate in Elon Musk’s $43bn Twitter bid, says report

Private equity firm bought AOL and Yahoo for $5bn last year

Private equity firm Apollo Global management may get involved with Elon Musk’s $43bn bid to buy Twitter, according to a report.

The company, which last year bought AOL and Yahoo in a $5bn deal, could offer debt financing to potential buyers of the social media platform, including Mr Musk.

The Tesla boss launched a staggering bid to buy the platform last week, although its board has responded by enacting a ”poison pill” to protect itself from Mr Musk’s advances.

No decision has yet been made, a source told The New York Times, and Appollo’s potential involvement was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Mr Musk is the world’s richest person with a personal fortune of $251bn, but observers have questioned if the entrepreneur has enough cash on hand to complete the deal.

He discussed his immense personal wealth TED curator Chris Anderson in a recent interview.

“It would be very problematic if I was consuming billions of dollars a year in personal consumption but that is not the case,” he said.

“In fact I don’t even own a home right now. I’m literally staying at friends’ places. I don’t have a yacht. I don’t really take vacations, so it’s not as if my personal consumption is high.

“The one exception is the plane, but if I don’t use the plane then I have less hours to work.”

Mr Musk has said that he currently does not even own a house of his own and stays with friends.

Analysts have speculated the he would need $15bn to $20bn in debt to finance any purchase of Twitter, according to The Times.

The Independent has reached out to Apollo for comment.