Wall Street Banks Prepare to Sell Up to $3 Billion of X Debt Holdings
Wall Street banks are preparing to sell up to $3 billion of debt holdings in X, the social-media platform controlled by Elon Musk, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. Morgan Stanley bankers have contacted investors ahead of a planned sale next week, the sources said. The banks are expected to get 90 to 95 cents on the dollar, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported preparations for the sale.
Musk denied the report as “false,” posting on X that the newspaper was “lying.” However, the Journal cited a January email to X staff in which Musk said finances remained problematic but pointed to the growing power and influence the company had. Morgan Stanley and other banks, such as Bank of America and Barclays, lent Musk money to complete his $44 billion buyout of X, then known as Twitter, in 2022.
The banks typically sell such loans to investors soon after a deal is done, but lenders have faced difficulties in offloading the debt in the case of X. Musk’s sweeping changes to the platform, including laying off many people who had worked to moderate content, and one of his posts on X, scared away advertisers and hit revenues. This reduced the value of the debt, as the risk of default increased.
Attempts to sell the debt in late 2022 attracted bids which would have seen banks taking as much as a 20% loss on the face value of the debt, sources said at the time. Other banks in the consortium that helped finance the deal include Mitsubishi UFJ, BNP Paribas, Mizuho, and Societe Generale.
