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Twitter CEO Elon Musk is reportedly planning to raise $3 billion to help pay off recent debt the company has racked up since it was acquired in October. The company currently has $13 billion in debt, according to people familiar with the matter, and Musk said in December he plans to sell his $3 billion worth of Twitter stock, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Musk’s apparent bid to secure funds comes after about 6,000 of the company’s employees were laid off. The company has also been dealt a blow in the form of lawsuits from property management companies who claim Twitter breached its contract by not paying the rent, and the company is facing legal action with the Crown Estate in the UK for failing to pay the rent Hasn’t paid rent London office space.
Three months after his Twitter acquisition, Musk has found other ways to cut costs, including auctioning off furniture, office supplies, and even an iconic blue bird statue that sold for $100,000. When Musk completed his $44 billion buyout of the social media platform, he also acquired $1 billion in annual interest. While Musk has reached out to new and existing investors for additional funding, some have expressed disdain and concern for Twitter’s future, The Wall Street Journal reported.
When asked on Twitter whether the Wall Street Journal’s report was true and whether he would sell his Twitter stock, which is worth up to $3 billion, Musk said simply answered“No.”
Twitter has suffered a significant drop in revenue as around 500 of its top advertisers pulled out of the platform, resulting in a loss of more than $4 million per day and cutting revenue by 40%. In November, Musk even went so far as to make a doomsday prediction, saying that bankruptcy could be a possibility for the company. He later withdrew after the mass layoffs, saying he expected Twitter to be financially balanced by 2023.