Elon Musk announced on March 28 that his artificial intelligence company, xAI, has acquired his social media platform, X, in an all-stock deal valued at $45 billion.
The transaction, which includes $12 billion in debt, values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion—more than $10 billion less than what Musk paid in 2022 when he bought the company, then known as Twitter, for $44 billion.
Founded in 2023 as a rival to ChatGPT creator OpenAI, xAI has rapidly advanced with offerings such as Grok, its AI chatbot, which was already tightly integrated with X before the acquisition. The deal now formally unites two of Musk’s most prominent ventures in a move aimed at creating a next-generation AI-powered platform.
“The combined company will deliver smarter, more meaningful experiences to billions of people while staying true to our core mission of seeking truth and advancing knowledge,” Musk wrote. “This will allow us to build a platform that doesn’t just reflect the world but actively accelerates human progress.”
Musk highlighted the performance of both companies since they came under his control. He described X as a “digital town square” used by more than 600 million people and said it has become “one of the most efficient companies in the world.” Since acquiring Twitter, Musk has overhauled the platform with sweeping changes—firing top executives, cutting staff in half, and loosening content moderation to align more closely with his views on free speech.
