xAI startup buys Elon Musk’s X for $33bn

Tesla owner, Elon Musk, has sold social media platform X to his artificial intelligence company, xAI, in an all-stock deal valued at $33 billion, the billionaire announced on Friday.

Both companies are privately held, meaning they are not required to disclose their financial details to the public.

Musk stated in a post on X that the transaction aims to “unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach.” According to him, the deal values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion.

Musk, who serves as CEO of SpaceX, originally acquired the then platform known as Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022. Following the purchase, he rebranded it as X, significantly reduced its workforce, and altered policies on hate speech, misinformation, and user verification. He launched xAI a year later.

ALSO READ: I will buy Tesla to support Elon Musk — Trump

“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 on X. “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.”

It remains uncertain whether the change will impact X users. xAI already utilises data from X posts to train its AI models, while paying X users have access to its AI chatbot, Grok.

ALSO READ TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE