ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For weeks, much of the world waited with bated breath to see if Elon Musk would be able to pull off a buyout of Twitter.
During the back and forth process, the outspoken Tesla CEO said he wanted to own and privatize the social media platform because he thought it wasn't living up to its potential as a platform for free speech.
Finally, the saga met its conclusion when Twitter's board of directors unanimously approved Musk's $44 billion deal.
Reactions to the purchase were split, with some praising the future of a Musk-owned social media platform and others questioning the billionaire's motivations. However, one governor was all in on Musk's deal, in part due to the larger impact the purchase has on his state's pension fund.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was met with applause on Monday during a news conference at Rookies Sports Bar & Grill in Spring Hill after breaking the news of Musk's purchase to the crowd. However, it's the background information he gave prior to the announcement that may catch the attention of state employees.
According to DeSantis, Florida's State Board of Administration (SBA) holds shares of Twitter. The SBA, which the governor is on the board of by law, is in charge of handling Florida's multi-billion dollar pension fund for state employees. When rumblings of a possible buyout from Musk became public, the governor said Florida reached out to the company's board of directors.
"Last week, [the SBA] sent a letter to the board of directors saying, 'look, Elon Musk is putting a very good offer on the table. And, you better have a good business reason why you're not doing it because if it's for politics, we're going to hold you accountable,'" DeSantis said.
Whether or not the SBA's letter had any actual impact on the board's decision is unknown, but what is known is that the governor and state officials are happy about it. In a statement released by Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, he called Musk's purchase of Twitter a "win for Florida's pension system" and even suggested a partnership between the company and the state.
"No doubt, Elon’s pro-freedom sentiments, as well as Twitter’s margins, would benefit with a move to the Sunshine State," Patronis' statement read, in part. "We have no income tax, we love freedom, and we believe in public safety. With Elon at the helm, Florida and Twitter would be a match made in heaven."
Using funds from a state's pension program to invest in stocks is nothing out of the ordinary. USF Associate Professor of Financing Dr. Thomas Smith says its seen as a necessity for the state to meet the fund's projected costs.
According to Smith, state officials in charge of the retirement fund must calculate what they may owe each employee when they reach retirement and convert it to today's dollars. As the years go on, interest in those costs will continue to grow. In order to make sure that the pension fund grows with that interest, state officials will invest in equity — or, stocks.
How much of the pension fund relies on stocks varies by state, but according to the SBA, Florida has 53-percent of the fund financed by stock investments — that, however, can be reduced to as low as 45-percent or as high as 70-percent. The rest of the pension is funded by a fixed income, real estate taxes, private investments and cash equivalents. Smith says, every year, the state must find a way to make sure it meets its projections for the pension fund or risk having to allocate funding from other sources, like taxes.
So, with Musk's mega-deal, whatever money Florida's pension fund had in Twitter, it's now seeing a big return. How much of a return though is not clear. 10 Tampa Bay reached out to the governor's office to see how many shares of Twitter the state's pension fund owned but was not given an answer.
10 Tampa Bay also reached out to Twitter for a statement but has yet to receive a response.