In an unexpected move, Elon Muskannounced on Friday that he had sold the social media platform X to his artificial intelligence (AI) company, xAI, in a deal worth $33 billion. The acquisition was carried out entirely through an all-stock transaction.
Musk stated in a post on X that the deal would “unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capabilities and expertise with X’s vast user base.”
Elon Musk, who is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and also serves as an advisor to US President Donald Trump, originally acquired the platform – then known as Twitter – in 2022 for $44 billion. He later rebranded it as X, dismissed the majority of its staff, and overhauled its policies on hate speech, misinformation, and user verification.
In his post on X, Musk outlined the rationale behind the decision to sell X to xAI. “xAI and X’s futures are intertwined. Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution, and talent. This combination will unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach,” Musk wrote.
He revealed that the deal values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion.
“The combined company will deliver smarter, more meaningful experiences to billions of people, while remaining committed to our core mission of pursuing truth and advancing knowledge,” he added.
