Like burning money.
After Tesla failed to make a scheduled bond payment last month, the automaker owed the bondholders that bought its debt the $160 million in cash the company was supposed to pay them.
The automaker owed money for 22 days in February. It has missed three bond payments, including the one it should have made on Tuesday.
That $160 million, plus an additional $18 million in penalties, means Tesla owes JPMorgan Chase $186 million.
But Tesla said Friday that the missed bond payment was only a result of “accounting matters,” and that it does not expect to have to give JPMorgan any more money.
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“This dispute is about accrued interest,” the company said in a statement. “We do not expect that any further payment will be required.”
But it remains unclear exactly what the dispute is about.
“As a result of the reasonableness of the interest payment that was due today, we were unable to make that payment today,” Tesla said in its statement.
Musk had tweeted that the Tesla Model 3 was “ready to roll” after a Chinese grand opening event on Feb. 28. (That was the same day the company missed its scheduled bond payment, on Feb. 15.)
But soon after, Tesla canceled the event.
Musk tweeted on Feb. 26 that this “wasn’t intentional,” and promised to pay back the $180 million it owed the bondholders on March 31. But even if it does, there is still $55 million that Tesla should be paying in March for missed payments that were due by March 15.
Tesla has struggled with cash flow and profitability, and it has delayed its projected delivery schedule twice already this year. Tesla did not say when the missed bond payment would be made.