5 big ways in SC to spend the $44 billion Elon Musk plans to pay for Twitter
You could do a lot in South Carolina with that many zeroes.
Twitter’s board announced on Monday it would accept an approximately $44 billion offer from billionaire Elon Musk to buy the social media company. If the deal goes through, Musk, who also runs electric car company Tesla, would take Twitter private.
The world’s richest man has been keen for weeks on owning Twitter, which he uses regularly. But what if he turned that $44 billion elsewhere, say to South Carolina?
Here are five wild ways to spend such wealth in the state.
Every home sold in South Carolina last year
According to data from South Carolina Realtors, with $44 billion you could buy the equivalent of every home sold in the state last year. The organization’s annual report shows that the state had 121,687 closed home sales for an average sales price of $350,099 last year.
At that price, you could buy every home sold last year for $42.6 billion, meaning you’d have about $1.4 billion left over to save for a rainy day.
Not too shabby.
Tuition for every University of South Carolina student
College isn’t cheap, so anything to help alleviate student debt would be welcome. And $44 billion would help a lot of Gamecocks, but how many?
The university’s website states an estimated 34,700 students began attending classes at the Columbia campus in the fall semester last year. Also, the university estimates a $26,822 price tag for in-state students to attend classes this academic year — a cost that includes tuition, housing, meals, books and supplies.
As such, $44 billion could pay for the university’s entire student body to attend college every year for the next 47 years, if the number of students and the cost to attend remained constant.
The Carolina Panthers headquarters
With $44 billion, the Panthers’ recent headquarters debacle in Rock Hill could be easily remedied.
The NFL team recently terminated their agreement with Rock Hill for the construction of a new headquarters over whether the South Carolina city had met its obligations on the project. The team contends the city hasn’t met its end of the deal related to $225 million in public infrastructure financing related to the potentially multi-billion-dollar project.
Clearly, $225 million would be a paltry sum for someone with $44 billion to spare. In fact, that would be plenty to pay for the entire project outright and still have enough left over to swing by North Carolina to buy the Panthers too.
According to the Charlotte Observer, the Carolina Panthers are worth an estimated $2.91 billion.
South Carolina’s entire budget … three times over
The South Carolina Senate is set to soon debate its version of the state’s $12.6 billion spending plan for the next fiscal year. The Senate version calls for $1 billion in income tax rebates and another $1 billion in cuts. The House version, however, calls for just $600 million in tax cuts.
The Senate version also would remove a $1,500 one-time bonus for state employees and guarantees to only raise the minimum pay for new teachers to $38,000. The House version would raise the minimum to $40,000.
With enough to cover the state’s proposed spending plan more than three times over, there would be plenty in that $44 billion to make a lot of teachers and state employees happy in the coming year.
A lot of Waffle House all-star specials
With more than 170 locations, South Carolina ranks second among the states with the most Waffle Houses. The top spot still goes to Georgia, with more than 450 of the beloved restaurants.
Still, second place is nothing to scoff at, especially when it means better access to those fluffy waffles than most other states.
And when it comes to Waffle House, it’s hard to beat the classic all-star special, which comes with two eggs, grits, toast, three strips of bacon and a waffle.
And at a relatively low $7.50 per meal, $44 billion could buy you more than 5.86 billion all-star specials.
Hopefully there will be plenty of syrup.
