In Leaked Email, Elon Musk Admits Defeat on Twitter
Cutting Losses
Banks that loaned multi-hyphenate billionaire Elon Musk an appreciable $13 billion for his ill-advised $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in late 2022 are getting ready to offload billions of debt they accrued as a result, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The hope is to minimize the hurt as they sell off the debt, a massive scar haunting the mercurial CEO's disastrous social media platform shopping spree.
After a chaotic couple of years, and Musk seemingly doing his best to wipe out what was left of the platform's largely ad-dependant revenue with increasingly erratic behavior, X-formerly-Twitter's finances have yet to recover. The company is still drowning in accumulated debt while loaners are struggling with massive payments.
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Now that Musk has catapulted himself onto the political world stage by throwing himself at Trump's feet, banks are seemingly seeing the moment as an opportunity to sell their debt without incurring huge losses.
https://futurism.com/the-byte/leaked-email-elon-musk-defeat-twitter
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Think. Again.
(21,382 posts)It's a dumb messaging app. There are plenty of others.
dutch777
(3,855 posts)Emrys
(8,189 posts)Here's a selection:
Elon Musk email to X staff: ‘we’re barely breaking even’ - https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/24/24351317/elon-musk-x-twitter-bank-debt-stagnant-growth
Elon Musk Tells Employees X Is 'Barely Breaking Even' - https://www.pcmag.com/news/report-musk-says-x-is-barely-breaking-even-in-letter-to-employees
The Cheat Sheet on Trump’s First Week - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/25/business/dealbook/trump-first-week.html
Musk disputes reports that he is dissatisfied with business of X - https://finance.yahoo.com/news/musk-disputes-reports-dissatisfied-business-141424343.html
Meanwhile, on Twitter Musk categorically denied sending the email:
@xDaily
NEWS: The WSJ has leaked an email Elon sent to X staff this month:
"Our user growth is stagnant, revenue is unimpressive, and we’re barely breaking even", Elon wrote.
Despite the downbeat tone, this appears to confirm that as a business X is no longer losing money, a consistent worry in the first two years post-acquisition.
Elon added in the email: "“Over the last few months, we’ve witnessed the power of X in shaping national conversations and outcomes" and “We are also seeing other platforms begin to adopt our commitment to free speech and unbiased truth,”
This comes as Wall Street banks are preparing to sell billions of dollars in debt holdings in X.
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Elon Musk
@elonmusk
This report is false. I sent no such email.
WSJ is lying.
I guess a number of Twitter employees will now know whether Musk or the WSJ is the bigger liar. If the story provess to be untrue, it'll be ironic given Musk's track record, which includes allegations of market manipulation and insider trading in relation to Twitter and Tesla, sometimes involving strategic loose talk on social media.
tanyev
(45,383 posts)Because Twitter’s troubles are all on you.
RainCaster
(12,185 posts)The banks are losing on the order of $130M on this deal. I sure hope the banks keep that in mind when they loan him more money.