Elon Musk borrowed $1bn from SpaceX in same month as Twitter deal

Elon Musk withdrew a loan of $1bn (R19.1bn) from SpaceX, the two-decade-old rocket company run by the billionaire, at about the same time he was acquiring Twitter, now known as X, for $44bn (R843bn), the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

SpaceX approved the $1bn loan, which was backed by some of Musk's SpaceX stock, in October and Musk drew all of it down in the same month, according to the report, citing documents. Musk took ownership of Twitter in October.

Musk has had arrangements with banks to borrow against his shares in his companies, including electric vehicles (EV) maker Tesla, while privately held SpaceX has served as his lender, the report said, adding that paying for Twitter further complicated Musk's financial situation.

Musk is SpaceX's largest shareholder with a 42% stake and almost 79% of its voting power as of March, the report said, citing a filing with the Federal Communications Commission. SpaceX had $4.7bn (R90bn) in cash and securities on hand at the end of last year, the paper said, citing documents.

SpaceX and X did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Musk sold a huge chunk of his Tesla shares in 2022, both before and after the Twitter deal, bringing his total sales to about $40bn (R766bn), which frustrated investors in the EV maker.

In April this year Tesla disclosed it had further tightened rules about Musk using his stake in the company to borrow money, according to the Wall Street Journal report.

In addition to Tesla and X, Musk is a co-founder of brain-chip start-up Neuralink.

Reuters