According to the story, which used documents as support, SpaceX approved the $1 billion loan in October and Musk drew it all down in the same month. The loan was secured by some of Musk’s SpaceX stock. In October, Musk acquired ownership of Twitter.
According to the story, Musk has agreements with banks to borrow money against the shares of his firms, including electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla (TSLA.O), while privately held SpaceX has acted as his lender. The report also stated that Musk’s financial condition was further complicated by having to pay for Twitter.
According to a filing with the Federal Communications Commission, Musk is SpaceX’s largest shareholder with a 42% holding and about 79% of its voting power as of March, the article stated. The article reported, citing papers, that SpaceX had $4.7 billion in cash and securities on hand at the end of the previous year.
A request for comment from Reuters was not immediately answered by either SpaceX or X.
Elon Musk sold a significant portion of his Tesla stock in 2022, before and after the Twitter acquisition, putting his total sales to above $40 billion, which angered Tesla’s stockholders.
According to the WSJ story, Tesla stated in April 2023 that it has further tightened regulations regarding Musk utilizing his ownership position in the company as collateral for loans.
Musk is a co-founder of the brain-chip business Neuralink in addition to Tesla and X.