Elon Musk Starts Loan Interest Payment to Syndicated Banks in Buying Twitter

Elon Musk and his employees in California. (photo: twitter @elonmusk)

JAKARTA - Twitter Inc has made its first interest payment under Elon Musk after the billionaire took the social media company private last year using about $12.5 billion in debt. Bloomberg News reported on the matter on Monday, January 30 citing people familiar with the matter.

Twitter is paying off seven banks, led by Morgan Stanley, that are now stuck with debt after they were unable to sell them to outside investors. Twitter, Musk and Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters about the report.

Apart from funds borrowed from bank syndicates including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp, the Tesla boss has also ditched stakes in the electric vehicle factory to fund his $44 billion takeover of Twitter.

Since Musk took over the social media platform last October, he has focused on reducing costs by laying off half of the workforce and introducing new plans for Twitter subscription service Blue, which offers the much sought-after "verified" badge.

Twitter has also seen advertisers flee amid concerns about Musk's approach to content moderation rules, which is affecting its revenue. Musk also pointed out last November that Twitter had seen a "massive" drop in revenue and blamed activist groups for squeezing advertisers.