Twitter has been struggling. Some major advertisers have paused spending on Twitter because of the change in control. A top ad exec, Sarah Personette, quit the day after Musk took over. Musk met with some advertisers himself, and the result was so bad that some execs shifted spending away from Twitter during the meeting, Vox Media’s Kara Swisher reported. Some of Musk’s comments and actions around moderation on Twitter have made advertisers particularly skittish. Twitter isn’t profitable and relies on advertising for the vast majority of its revenue. It will also have to pay roughly $1 billion a year in interest on the debt Musk took out in order to buy it.

One way Musk can make sure his loans are paid, regardless of Twitter’s advertising business, is to pay them himself. William Cohan at Puck has suggested that Musk paying the interest himself is a likely outcome. But to do that, Musk needs cash, and to get cash, he has to sell Tesla shares.