Tesla Is First Green Tech Firm to Pay Back Its Energy Dept. Loan
The government made $12 million on the 2009 loan.
Tesla no longer owes the federal government a dime. On Wednesday the company announced it had repaid the outsanding balance of $451.8 million, with interest, on its 2009 Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan from the Department of Energy. That means taxpayers earned a very, very small $12 million profit on the loan.
"I would like to thank the Department of Energy and the members of Congress... and particularly the American taxpayer from whom these funds originate," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said. "I hope we did you proud."
The company produced a quarterly profit for the first time in the first three months of this year, pocketing $11.2 million on $561.8 million in revenues. While Tesla started paying off the loan last year (company filings showed they paid at least $25 million back), the real reason it had cash around to pay back the loan was that last week it raised more than $1 billion in a stock offering. Tesla CEO Elon Musk advertised they would likely be paying back their loans in a tweet, of all places, he sent out on Monday.
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