Tesla Motors announced that it has paid off the entire loan awarded to
the company by the Department of Energy in 2010. In addition to
payments made in 2012 and Q1 2013, today’s wire of almost half a
billion dollars ($451.8M) repays the full loan facility with interest.
For the first seven years since its founding in 2003, Tesla was funded
entirely with private funds, led by Elon Musk. Tesla brought its
Roadster sports car to market with a 30% gross margin, designed
electric powertrains for Daimler (Mercedes) and had done preliminary
design of the Model S all before receiving a government loan.
In 2010, Tesla was awarded a milestone-based loan, requiring matching
private capital obtained via public offering, by the DOE as part of
the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program. This program
was signed into law by President Bush in 2008 and then awarded under
the Obama administration in the years that followed.
The loan payment was made today using a portion of the approximately
$1 billion in funds raised in last week’s concurrent offerings of
common stock and convertible senior notes. Elon Musk, Tesla’s Chief
Executive Officer and cofounder, purchased $100 million of common
equity, the least secure portion of the offering.
23 May 2013
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