Elon Musk's first interest payment on Twitter could be due this month
Andrew Burton/Getty Images News

Elon Musk's $44B purchase of Twitter (TWTR) was funded in part by $13B in debt and despite the takeover having only closed in October, the first interest payment may be right around the corner.
Citing three people close to the buyout, the first payment of the $1.5B in annual interest expenses may be due at the end of January, the Financial Times reported.
In December, Musk sold nearly $3.6B worth of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock in part to help pay for the transaction. However, he vowed to not sell anymore for another two years, even as advertisers have left Twitter (TWTR) and the company's weak financial position have led to Musk laying off thousands of employees and looking for new ways to generate revenue.
The FT noted that Musk has a number of options to help make the interest payment, including a painful bankruptcy, selling additional equity in the company or using cash from Twitter's (TWTR) balance sheet.
Musk could also look to restructure the debt used to buy Twitter (TWTR), as the FT added Musk is in discussions with banks to replace the roughly $3B of unsecured debt yielding 11.75% with margin loans, using his Tesla (TSLA) stake as collateral.
Musk's debt is held by several banks, including Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Barclays (NYSE:BCS) and Mitsubishi. 
Earlier this month, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said the sell-off in Tesla (TSLA) could continue if Musk continues to be distracted by Twitter.