Ever since Elon Musk took over X, formerly known as Twitter, this time last year, plenty of decisions ranging from head-scratching to plain bad have been made. As the platform has seemingly done nothing but ostracize its user base, the data appears to show that the banks that lent Musk the money to purchase Twitter are still hanging on to all of their debt.
The banks that lent Musk $US13 billion to purchase the platform last year have been forced to hang on to that debt as investor interest in the platform has cratered, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal Wednesday. It’s been long suspected that X isn’t making money, and sources told the Journal that the banks associated with the sale are expecting a hit of $US2 billion when they sell their debts at a loss.
These banks reportedly hoped to sell the debt by Labor Day, but are beginning preparations to offload some of it. Banks involved with Musk’s purchase of Twitter include Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Barclays, and MUFG, with BNP Paribas, Société Générale, and Mizuho also involved in some capacity.
Twitter did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment on the report.
The news of investors being skittish about such a volatile company is hardly surprising considering the portfolio of questionable business moves Musk has made in one year alone. Shortly after taking over Twitter last October, layoffs targeting thousands of employees in January were a sign of things to come. Most notably, Musk literally trashed what was the most lucrative part of the business: its name. Court documents revealed in April that the billionaire would be rebranding Twitter Inc. to X Corp in true supervillain fashion with the platform’s new logo debuting this past summer.