Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, will likely only get a big payday if a deal is reached. Then, it could pocket the fees for advising Musk as well as potentially for helping to arrange financing for the bid, although there’s so far little detail on how Musk might fund his all-cash offer.
Still, the mandate is an opportunity to get even closer to the richest person in the world. A strong relationship could put Morgan Stanley in pole position to be tapped for any transaction that Musk’s portfolio of companies might want to make. With Tesla, SpaceX and the Boring Co. all under his control -- and the latter two still private -- there’s plenty of potential opportunities for more work.
Working with any client, and particularly one with a reputation for being unpredictable, can carry potential downside if the deal goes awry. Musk’s attempt to take Tesla private resulted in scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and eyebrows have already been raised by the stock purchases that preceded his offer for Twitter. Any potential risk hasn’t dissuaded Wall Streets biggest banks from being along for the ride so far, even as Musk embarks on one of his wildest business endeavors yet.
--With assistance from Scott Deveau.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.