Elon Musk borrowed $1 billion from SpaceX the same month he bought Twitter
Elon Musk borrowed a whopping $1 billion from SpaceX in October — the same month he bought the social media platform, then known as Twitter, for $44 billion, according to verified documents The Wall Street Journal.
SpaceX — the space exploration company where Musk serves as CEO — approved the 10-figure loan, which was backed by some of the CEO’s stock, The Journal found.
He withdrew the entire amount in October.
Though the exact date he borrowed the $1 billion is unclear, the 52-year-old tech magnate completed the purchase of Twitter on Oct. 27 — six months after he began acquiring the social media site had started.
Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla, immediately repaid the amount.
By November, he had returned the $1 billion plus interest to SpaceX, according to documents available to the Journal.
The documents didn’t explain why Musk took on the debt, although it wasn’t the first time he’d used his shares in his own company as collateral for a loan.
According to The Journal, Musk has been making arrangements with banks to borrow money for his Tesla shares for years.
At Tesla, Musk owns more than 411 million shares, or a 12.95% stake, making it the electric vehicle maker’s largest shareholder.
According to mobile banking platform MoneyLionLenders lend up to 50% of a borrower’s portfolio value at any time and keep those shares as collateral.
However, because SpaceX remains a private company, the Hawthorne, Calif.-based spacecraft and satellite maker — which was valued at $150 billion last month — acted as Musk’s lender.
Musk reportedly owns 42% of SpaceX and 79% of the voting rights, meaning he has the power to use the company as his personal moneylender.
The post reached out to SpaceX and X, formerly known as Twitter, for comment.
X’s media line automatically responded with, “We’ll get back to you soon.”
SpaceX has struggled to turn a profit in recent years, and Musk warned back in 2021 that the company faces “real bankruptcy risk” if it fails to meet production targets for its Raptor engines, which will power its Starship rocket. not reached .
A year later, when Musk borrowed $1 billion from SpaceX, the company had $4.7 billion in cash and securities, according to The Journal.
The loan represented 11% of the $9 billion in equity the company had sold since 2009, the filings show.
SpaceX, which notoriously does not disclose its financial data, has managed to remain private thanks to large capital injections.
The company raised about $2 billion from share issuance last year, up from $1.5 billion in 2021, according to The Journal.
In November — a month after Musk took out the loan — he sold nearly $4 billion worth of Tesla stock, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
The deal comes months after Musk sold a massive $8.5 billion of shares in April and another $6.9 billion in August, both of which were reportedly in preparation for his takeover of Twitter .
Another billion-dollar sale of Tesla stock in December meant Musk sold a staggering $39 billion worth of shares in the automaker in just one year.
