Elon Musk ‘borrowed $1bn from SpaceX’ at same time as Twitter acquisition

This isn’t the first time that Mr Musk has taken out money from one of his ventures to aid another

Elon Musk reportedly took out a $1bn loan from his company SpaceX the same month that he acquired Twitter, now known as X, according to theWall Street Journal.

SpaceX approved the loan – which was secured by some of his stock in the company – in October 2022, according to the Journal. That same month, Mr Musk drew all of it down.

The SpaceX founder returned the $1bn – with interest – to the company one month later, the Journal reported.

It’s unclear why the richest person in the world now and in October 2022, when he took over the social media giant, took out the loan. He bought the social media company for $44bn, which seemed to contribute to him losing that top slot, until he was renamed the world’s richest person in June 2023.

The publication also noted that in November 2022, when he repaid the loan, Mr Musk sold $3.95bn in shares in another one of his companies, Tesla. The following month, he sold another $3.58bn in Tesla stock. That year in total, Mr Musk had sold nearly $23bn worth of Tesla stock since April – fuelling speculation that the funds were likely going toward his social media platform acquisition.

This isn’t the first time that Mr Musk has taken out money from one of his ventures to aid another.

In 2009, Mr Musk reportedly borrowed $20m from SpaceX to support Tesla.

More recently, in 2015 and 2016, SpaceX poured $330m in bonds into his solar panel company SolarCity. Tesla ended up acquiring SolarCity in 2016.

SpaceX has recently come under fire, as the Justice Department sued the company last month for alleged hiring discrimination practices. SpaceX’s “discriminatory hiring practices were routine, widespread, and longstanding, and harmed asylees and refugees,” the filing stated.

The Independent has reached out to SpaceX for comment.