[meterplech]

The story is that they paid it back via the private market, meaning that the financial community believes in the company enough that they no longer need public support.

Incidentally, they did issue corporate debt (a form of a loan, sure), but also issued more equity as well.

[mrkmcknz]

I guess it probably made sense financially in that the private market believed in Tesla enough to provide a better rate than the original loan.