Elon Musk’s team has been exploring using up to $3 billion in new donations to pay off some of the $13 billion in debt pinned on Twitter for his takeover of the company, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
According to the message muskRepresentatives of spoke about selling up to US$3 billion (approximately Rs.1,06,000) worth of new Twitter shares in December.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. When asked if the WSJ report was accurate, Musk replied “no” in a tweet.
the Tesla Boss borrowed US$13 billion (about Rs.24,465 billion) to complete Twitter’s acquisition in October from a consortium of banks, including MorganStanley and Bank of America.
Musk’s team told people familiar with the company’s finances that if successful, a capital raise could be used to pay down an unsecured portion of the debt, which carries the highest interest rate within Twitter’s $13 billion loan package , the report added .
Meanwhile, ad spending on Twitter dropped by 71 percent in December, data from an advertising research firm showed, as top advertisers cut spending on the social media platform following the Elon Musk acquisition.
The current data from Default Media Index (SMI) comes as Twitter looks to reverse advertiser exodus. It has rolled out a number of initiatives to win back advertisers, offer some free ads, lift a ban on political advertising, and give companies greater control over where their ads are positioned.
Adspend on Twitter fell 55 percent year-on-year in November, according to SMI data, despite these months traditionally being a time of higher adspend as brands promote their products during the holiday season.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
