Financial TimesFinancial Times

Looming Twitter interest payment leaves Elon Musk with unpalatable options

By Richard Waters, Eric Platt, Tabby Kinder

17 Jan 2023 · 5 min read

Editor's Note

Elon Musk is due for interest payment on the $13 bn debt he took to buy Twitter. Financial Times taps experts to unpack the different scenarios that can play out if Musk isn't able to pay.

The bill for Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter is coming due, with the billionaire facing unpalatable options on the company’s enormous debt pile, ranging from bankruptcy proceedings to another costly sale of Tesla shares.

Three people close to the entrepreneur’s buyout of Twitter said the first instalment of interest payments related to $13bn of debt he used to fund the takeover could be due as soon as the end of January. That debt means the company must pay about $1.5bn in annual interest payments.

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