Elon Musk Secures $1 Billion Loan from SpaceX for Twitter Acquisition
(Reuters) – Elon Musk took out a $1 billion loan from SpaceX – the billionaire’s two-decade-old rocket company – around the same time he bought Twitter, now known as X, for $44 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. reported on Tuesday.
SpaceX accepted a $1 billion loan, backed by some of Musk’s SpaceX stock, in October and Musk pulled it all down that month, according to the report, citing documents. Musk took ownership of Twitter in October.
Musk has had arrangements with banks to lend him shares in his companies, including electric vehicle maker Tesla, while privately held SpaceX has served as his lender, according to the report, paying Twitter further strained Musk’s financial situation.
Musk is SpaceX’s largest shareholder with a 42 percent stake and nearly 79 percent of the voting power as of March, the report said, citing a Federal Communications Commission filing. SpaceX had $4.7 billion in cash and securities at the end of last year, the paper said, citing documents.
Both SpaceX and X did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Elon Musk sold a huge chunk of his Tesla stock in 2022, both before and after the Twitter deal, bringing his total sales to about $40 billion, frustrating investors in the electric vehicle maker.
In April 2023, Tesla revealed, according to a WSJ report, that it had further tightened the rules for Musk, who is using his stake in the company to borrow money.
In addition to Tesla and X, Musk is one of the founders of the brain-chip startup Neuralink.
(This article has been revised to correct a typographical error in section 6 and remove an extra word in section 7)
