Tesla wants to buy SolarCity for $2.8 billion
Elon Musk wants to buy a company he helped start.
Tesla announced on Tuesday its intentions to buy SolarCity, having made an offer of between $26.50 per share and $28.50 per share. That equates to a $2.8 billion valuation.
SolarCity's primary business is the financing and installation of solar panels. The company was founded in 2006 by Peter Rive and Lyndon Rive, with help from their cousin: Musk, Tesla's founder and CEO.
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The deal, announced in a blog post, would be paid for entirely in Tesla stock.
"Tesla customers can drive clean cars and they can use our battery packs to help consume energy more efficiently, but they still need access to the most sustainable energy source that’s available: the sun," Tesla stated in the blog post announcing the offer.
Tesla pointed out that the combined company would be able to offer "end-to-end clean energy."
SolarCity and Tesla have never been very distant. Musk is also the chairman of SolarCity.
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Tesla's offer was about 21% more than SolarCity shares had been trading on Tuesday, meaning the stock predictably shot up in after-hours trading. Conversely, Tesla shares slid as much as 12% after hours.
Tesla also released a letter sent from its board of directors to SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive declaring their intentions and explaining its rationale.
"We believe that a combination would generate significant benefits for stockholders, customers and employees of both Tesla and SolarCity," the letter read.
The letter also noted that Musk and Antonio Gracias, who serves as a director on Tesla's and SolarCity's boards, will not vote on the deal due to their connections to both companies.
"We believe that any transaction should be the result of full and fair deliberation and negotiation by both of our boards and the fully-informed consideration of our respective stockholders," the letter read.
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Topics Sustainability Tesla Elon Musk
Jason Abbruzzese is a Business Reporter at Mashable. He covers the media and telecom industries with a particular focus on how the Internet is changing these markets and impacting consumers. Prior to working at Mashable, Jason served as Markets Reporter and Web Producer at the Financial Times. Jason holds a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and an M.A. in International Affairs from Australian National University.
