In a consolidation of his tech companies, X proprietor Elon Musk stated in a put up on Friday that xAI, the builders of Grok, had acquired X (previously Twitter) in an all-stock transaction. In accordance with Musk, the merger values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion.
Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion in April 2022. By October 2024, Constancy Investments adjusted the valuation of its stake in X, estimating the corporate’s total worth to be roughly $9.4 billion.
Although its valuation had recovered considerably by December 2024, it was nonetheless down a whopping 77% from Musk’s buy value. How Musk arrived at a $33 billion valuation, in different phrases, would make for fascinating studying.
Already the top of a number of firms, together with SpaceX and Tesla, Musk launched xAI in July 2023, a yr after buying Twitter. Whereas he stated the purpose of xAI was to “perceive actuality,” an ongoing feud with former enterprise companion OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was additionally a driving issue.
“At the moment, we formally take the step to mix the information, fashions, compute, distribution, and expertise. This mixture will unlock immense potential by mixing xAI’s superior AI functionality and experience with X’s large attain,” Musk wrote on X Friday. “The mixed firm will ship smarter, extra significant experiences to billions of individuals whereas staying true to our core mission of in search of fact and advancing data.”
Calling X “the digital city sq.,” Musk stated the platform boasted over 600 million energetic customers. Nonetheless, Meta, which launched a rival social media platform, Threads, in July 2023, and Bluesky, which launched in February of that yr, have been making an attempt to woo away customers.
Bluesky’s person depend surpassed 27.44 million customers in January 2025, a lot of whom had left Twitter after Musk’s takeover. On the similar time, bolstered by its connections to Fb and Instagram, Threads had over 320 million month-to-month energetic customers as of February 2025.
Musk made headlines in July of final yr when it was revealed that Grok can be skilled on X person knowledge. The setting could be disabled, however is on by default for person accounts.
Some social media customers jeered right this moment’s announcement, mocking the apparently sizable valuation enhance in a deal between two of Musk’s personal firms.
“I additionally bought my 2008 Honda Accord to myself for $1 million,” New York Occasions tech reporter Ryan Mac stated on Bluesky.
“Wait a min…what’s completely different although… apart from on paper?” an X person requested.
The merger, nevertheless, might serve a extra pragmatic function. With X nonetheless carrying vital debt—$12 billion, in line with Musk’s tweet—folding it into the xAI umbrella might give the corporate entry to new buyers, improved valuation, and a story pivot away from Twitter’s chaotic takeover.
“This may permit us to construct a platform that doesn’t simply mirror the world however actively accelerates human progress,” he stated.
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