The acquisition follows Musk's previous $44 billion purchase of Twitter in 2022, during which he restructured the platform, leading to workforce reductions and initial advertiser departures. The debt from the 2022 buyout was recently offloaded by banks, benefiting from increased investor interest in AI and X's improved financials. An xAI investor noted the acquisition as a strategic move by Musk to tighten control over his ventures. This development occurs amid Musk's legal disputes with OpenAI and a recent court ruling against him regarding delayed disclosure of his Twitter stake.
Key takeaways:
- Elon Musk's xAI has acquired his social media platform X in an all-stock deal valued at $33 billion, marking a consolidation of his tech empire to advance AI efforts.
- The acquisition values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion, with the transaction aligning Musk's AI and social media operations.
- Analysts were surprised by the move, noting it closes a chapter in the turbulent saga of X, with the $45 billion valuation being significant as it is $1 billion higher than the 2022 Twitter take-private transaction.
- The acquisition comes amid Musk's legal battles with OpenAI and his continued expansion of xAI's capabilities, including the launch of Grok-3 and the development of the "Colossus" supercomputing cluster.