When Elon Musk He bought X for $ 44 billion In 2022, more than a quarter was funded by bank loans including Morgan Stanley. Banks usually sell these loans quickly, but in this case they kept a lot of this debt because investors were reluctant to bet on the work of the cheerful social media company.
Mr. Musk’s new authority helped President Trump’s management change the minds of investors.
On Thursday, banks sold about $ 4.7 billion of X debts, according to two people familiar with treatment, more than $ 3 billion that they had originally intended to sell.
Mr. Musk, who has become a close consultant for the president and runs a government efficiency initiative, faced increasing questions about whether the companies he is driving – including Tesla and Rockket Company ( He takes advantage of his position As the right man of Mr. Trump.
X has become a transition platform for information about management plans, which Mr. Musk More than 217 million followers are broadcast on his account. People familiar with the deals said that advertisers had returned in large numbers to X, which enhances revenues. The company told the investors that its revenues in December jumped by 21 percent for one month.
A spokesman for X and Morgan Stanley rejected the comment. Bloomberg mentioned previously The jump in revenue and Transaction details.
The sale of debt – which reached $ 12.5 billion at the time of acquisition – helps Mr. Musk and banks, which have been installed for two years. Just two months ago, investors were negotiating to buy this debt with a loss from 10 percent to 20 percent for banks.
But the investor’s appetite has turned significantly. Last week, banks sold $ 5.5 billion of debt to a small group of investors, people familiar with the deal said. This month, Diameter Capital Partners bought $ 1 billion of debt. Banks have now sold almost all X debts, leaving nearly a billion dollars over their public budgets.
Investors were excited to buy X debts due to several factors, including improving the company’s revenues. Advertisers like Amazon and Apple returned after fleeing On the controversial actions by Mr. Musk, Three of the people participating in the discussions said.
X revenues increased by 40 percent last year 2023 is gloomyThe person familiar with the company’s financial affairs said. People familiar with X’s Business says that more subscribers pay for X X service and knowledge of the MR. Musk’s Intelligence Venture, XAI, X Pays to license its data.
“It seems that more works come from what they were in the past two years,” wrote Brett Whits, head of the X.
When going to Super Bowl last Sunday, the company was appointed to earn $ 7.9 million of relevant advertising revenue, and a little outperformed $ 7.2 million of the event in 2024, according to an internal document that the Times saw.
People said that the company’s extensive costs, including reducing employees by more than 80 percent, appealed to investors.
Three people said that the wealth of X – financially and politically – has improved because Mr. Musk had agreed with Mr. Trump.
Although people familiar with the deal said that investors do not expect to prefer with Mr. Musk by lending him money, they saw the future of his companies brighter after he was at the heart of the government. They also said they believed that the role of Mr. Musk means that the money was likely to be paid.
Executive officials in the advertising industry who did not publicly talk about the matter said that some advertisers who returned to X were concerned about the repercussions of the call groups if they supported the company. Others were concerned about the possible revenge by Mr. Musk if they did not return.
Last year, Mr. Musk filed a lawsuit against many major brands and the global alliance of the responsible media, a non -profit alliance for the main advertisers led by the World Federation of advertisers, claiming that the group organized a province against X. Garm closed Days after the lawsuit was filed, but Mr. Musk continued to pressure his case against advertisers. This month, his lawyers added many companies to the case, including LEGO, Nestlé and Shell.
Mr. Musk’s links to the White House can help his other works. Weeks after Mr. Trump, executive officials in Balnnir sent a memorandum to engineers, and asked Grok, a chatbot of artificial intelligence designed by Mr. Musk’s Xai. This was the first time that the company asked them to use Grok on other Chatbots.
A Palantir spokeswoman rejected the comment.
Ryan Mac and Shera Frenkel The reports contributed.
