In a consolidation of his tech companies, X proprietor Elon Musk stated in a publish on Friday that xAI, the builders of Grok, had acquired X (previously Twitter) in an all-stock transaction. In response to 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 general 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 worth. How Musk arrived at a $33 billion valuation, in different phrases, would make for attention-grabbing studying.
Already the pinnacle of a number of corporations, together with SpaceX and Tesla, Musk launched xAI in July 2023, a yr after buying Twitter. Whereas he stated the objective of xAI was to “perceive actuality,” an ongoing feud with former enterprise companion OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was additionally a driving issue.
“Right now, we formally take the step to mix the info, 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 looking for reality and advancing data.”
Calling X “the digital city sq.,” Musk stated the platform boasted over 600 million lively customers. Nevertheless, 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 consumer 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 lively customers as of February 2025.
Musk made headlines in July of final yr when it was revealed that Grok could be educated on X consumer knowledge. The setting could be disabled, however is on by default for consumer accounts.
Some social media customers jeered as we speak’s announcement, mocking the apparently sizable valuation enhance in a deal between two of Musk’s personal corporations.
“I additionally bought my 2008 Honda Accord to myself for $1 million,” New York Instances tech reporter Ryan Mac stated on Bluesky.
“Wait a min…what’s completely different although… aside from on paper?” an X consumer requested.
The merger, nonetheless, might serve a extra pragmatic goal. With X nonetheless carrying vital debt—$12 billion, based on 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.
“It will enable us to construct a platform that doesn’t simply mirror the world however actively accelerates human progress,” he stated.
Typically Clever Publication
A weekly AI journey narrated by Gen, a generative AI mannequin.
