According to US media, including Bloomberg and the New York Times, banks this week sold $4.7 billion of X's acquisition debt at face value, exceeding their initial $3 billion target.
This was the third sale in recent weeks from the banks that had been stuck with $13 billion of debt from Musk's controversial buyout.
A week ago, the Financial Times said a sale led by Morgan Stanley unloaded a total of $5.5 billion at a small discount of 97 cents on the dollar.
According to the financial daily, a similar billion-dollar operation was carried out in January.
The sales followed reports from just months ago that lenders were struggling to offload the debt amid concerns that Musk's stewardship of the platform -- and shifting it politically to the right -- was a money-loser.
The company told investors, according to the New York Times, that its revenue, mainly from advertising but also including subscriptions, jumped 21 percent in December from the month before.
The company reportedly saw a 40 percent revenue increase last year from the year before, bolstered by premium subscriptions and data licensing deals with Musk's AI venture, xAI.
Contacted by AFP, Bank of America and Societe Generale declined to comment, while Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas had no immediate response.
The company's improved financial position comes as Musk has taken on a central advisory role in President Trump's administration, where he is leading a government efficiency initiative.
X has become a key communication platform for the administration, which took office on January 20, with Musk's account reaching over 217 million followers.
According to the Times, major advertisers including Amazon and Apple have returned to the platform after previously departing over the site's lack of content moderation.
However, some advertisers' return to the platform may be influenced by concerns about potential retribution, as Musk has expanded a lawsuit against several major brands and advertising industry groups who stopped spending on X.
'Like a wormhole': Musk promises 'Dubai Loop' tunnel network
Dubai (AFP) Feb 13, 2025 -
Elon Musk said Thursday that he was partnering with Dubai authorities to create a "Loop" underground road network in the congested city.
Musk's Boring Company has built a similar system in Las Vegas, with Tesla cars -- another of his products -- driving passengers down narrow, one-way tunnels for a fee.
"It's gonna be like a wormhole -- you just wormhole from one part of the city, boom, and you're out in another part of the city," Musk, the world's richest person, said by videolink at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
Currently the Vegas Loop has four stops and costs $10 for a five-minute, eight-kilometre (five-mile) ride.
"I think (when) people try it out, they'll be like, 'This is really cool.' And it's so obvious in retrospect, but until you actually do it you don't know," said Musk.
Dubai's Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum said the project was still at the planning stage, but could extend to 11 stations and capacity to transport 20,000 passengers an hour.
"Dubai will explore the development of the 17-kilometre project," he said in a statement.
Despite a giant road network of six-lane highways criss-crossing Dubai, traffic jams are common in the fast-growing United Arab Emirates city of about 3.6 million people.
According to UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence Omar Al Olama, who announced the joint project with Musk, the Loop will "cover Dubai's most densely populated areas for people to go from point to point".
The project is not to be confused with the Musk-inspired Hyperloop, which envisages floating pods travelling at ultra-high speeds along a vacuum-sealed tube.
After initial steps began in 2016 to build a Hyperloop between Dubai and oil-rich UAE's capital, Abu Dhabi, the project is yet to become reality.
Musk, a key appointee of US President Donald Trump, is currently slashing government spending, freezing aid programs and pushing staff reductions in federal agencies.
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