Twitter’s debt dynamics may be even shakier than Elon Musk’s commitment to free speech – The Irish Times

The biggest environmental risk from Elon Musk doesn’t come from the contrails of his private jet as it criss-crosses the planet away from the watchful eyes of pesky Twitter users. Instead, it comes from the gargantuan load of hot air that is expelled from his chest each time he beats it in pompous assertion of what appears to be faux concern over the free speech rights of others.

At this stage, there surely must be a Musk-shaped hole in the ozone layer, such is the intensity of the hot vapours emanating from the billionaire following his $44 billion (€41.4bn) Twitter takeover.

The car-crash spectacle of Musk’s zany stewardship of the social media platform attracts all the attention, such as when this week he suspended the Twitter accounts of several journalists for reporting on his unhappiness with a bot account tracking his private jet with public data. So much for the free speech ideologue.

But surely greater intrigue exists in the huge debt pile Musk took on to buy Twitter. The businessman borrowed $13 billion to buy the company from a consortium of banks. Considering he has already raised the prospect of Twitter’s bankruptcy, barely two months into his ownership, his lenders must be at risk of coming down with a dose of the seasonal heebie-jeebies.

[ Elon Musk threatens legal action against Twitter account that tracked his jet ]

Reuters reported this week that his lenders are already “preparing to book losses” on their loans to Twitter. As the company’s revenues shrink amid a flight of advertisers spooked by Musk’s erratic business style, the weight of Twitter’s debt pile is surely a story of far greater consequence for him than a bot tracking his private plane.

The share price of electric car-maker Tesla, which he runs, has halved in value since he started looking at Twitter in April. This week, Musk sold a further $3.6 billion of his Tesla stock. Was it to pay down or buy back some of his Twitter debt? A debt reckoning may eventually be on the cards.