Elon Musk’s financial team is exploring a major refinancing plan to ease nearly $18 billion in debt piled up from his Twitter acquisition and xAI expansion, just weeks after the blockbuster SpaceX-xAI merger created the world’s most valuable private company.
The merger, finalized on February 2, blended SpaceX’s rocket and Starlink satellite prowess with xAI’s Grok AI chatbot in an all-stock deal valuing the new entity at $1.25 trillion.
X (formerly Twitter), acquired by Musk in 2022 and merged into xAI in March 2025 at $45 billion including debt, forms a key part of the stack.
The Debt StackThe burden stems from the Twitter buyout financing and $5 billion in additional xAI borrowing. Morgan Stanley, lead arranger for both, is poised to spearhead refinancing talks. Creditors, worried about cash burn and profitability, previously urged xAI against more debt.
Banks once struggled to sell this debt—Morgan Stanley held Twitter loans for nearly two years, offloading the final $1.23 billion in April 2025 at a 9.5% fixed rate and 98 cents on the dollar.
IPO PositioningRefinancing would lighten Musk’s load before a massive IPO. Morgan Stanley joins Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase in leading SpaceX’s expected June debut, targeting $50 billion in capital.
The integrated giant now spans rockets, satellites, AI, and social media, positioning it for one of history’s largest public offerings.
SpaceX, xAI, and CNBC did not immediately respond to comment requests.
