Musk Needs ‘Massive Loan’ or Big Tesla Sale to Buy Twitter (1)

Even for the world’s richest person, $43 billion is a steep price.

Elon Musk’s proposed all-cash offer to buy Twitter Inc. represents about one-sixth of his $250.6 billion fortune. Yet the vast majority of that wealth is tied to his stake in Tesla Inc., the electric carmaker he co-founded that has surged in value over the past two years and lifted him to the top of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The purchase isn’t straightforward, but Musk has several financing paths. One option is to sell his Tesla shares outright. Another is borrowing against them to stage a ...