Elon Musk’s team has been exploring using as much as $3 billion in new fundraising to help repay some of the $13 billion in debt tacked onto Twitter for his buyout of the company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

According to the report, Musk‘s representatives discussed selling up to $3 billion (roughly Rs. 1,06,000 crore) in new Twitter shares in December.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Responding to a question whether the WSJ report was accurate, Musk said “no” in a tweet.

The Tesla boss borrowed $13 billion (roughly Rs. 24,465 crore) to close the Twitter acquisition in October from a syndicate of banks including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America.

Musk’s team has said to people familiar with the finances of the company that an equity raise, if successful, could be used to pay down an unsecured portion of the debt that carries the highest interest rate within the $13 billion Twitter loan package, the report added.

Meanwhile, advertising spending on Twitter dropped by 71 percent in December, data from an advertising research firm showed, as top advertisers slashed their spending on the social-media platform after Elon Musk’s takeover.

The recent data by Standard Media Index (SMI) comes as Twitter is moving to reverse the advertiser exodus. It has introduced a slew of initiatives to win back advertisers, offering some free ads, lifting a ban on political advertising and allowing companies greater control over the positioning of their ads.

According to the SMI data, ad spending on Twitter in November fell 55 percent from last year despite these months traditionally being a time of higher ad spending as brands promote their products during the holiday season.

© Thomson Reuters 2023