Tech billionaire Elon Musk announced on Friday that his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, acquired X in an all-stock transaction that values the combined company at $113 billion.
The deal values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion ($12 billion in debt subtracted from $45 billion), Musk said. Both companies are private entities.
In 2022, Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion before rebranding it X a year later. The platform was recently valued at the same price for which Musk bought it after raising $1 billion from investors, Bloomberg reported last month. The tech mogul is now merging xAI and X, saying their “futures are intertwined.”
“Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent,” Musk posted on X. “This combination will unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach. 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. This will allow us to build a platform that doesn’t just reflect the world but actively accelerates human progress.”
He teased the acquisition as “just the beginning.” It remains unclear exactly what the deal means for the two companies, but based on the announcement, it seems likely that X will refine and expand its existing AI features.
Given the merger, it appears Musk is continuing to carve out his own space in the AI world against “woke” competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. He has described X’s Grok AI chatbot as an anti-woke alternative that is dedicated to “truth-seeking,” although the AI tool has disagreed with its creator on certain political issues.
The Washington Post recently reported that Grok contradicted Musk on illegal immigration, diversity, equity, inclusion, and transgenderism. For instance, Grok says that “children should be allowed to receive gender-affirming care when it is deemed medically necessary and supported by professional medical guidance.” The chatbot’s response is contrary to Musk’s admission last year that his transgender-identifying son was “killed by the woke mind virus.”
Musk, the social media platform’s largest shareholder, previously served as the CEO of X before Linda Yaccarino assumed that position in 2023.
“The future could not be brighter,” Yaccarino posted.
Unlike X and xAI, Tesla’s business has been suffering as anti-Musk protesters target the company’s electric vehicles, chargers, and dealerships in response to the Department of Government Efficiency’s crackdown on waste, fraud, and abuse within the executive branch.
Tesla’s stock has fallen consistently since peaking in December, dropping about 35 percent in the last month and 42 percent so far this year. The company also recalled more than 46,000 Cybertrucks last week due to a defect that poses a potentially dangerous road hazard and an increased risk for collisions.
Taking issue with the Trump administration’s cost-cutting efforts and Musk’s involvement in the federal government, countless protesters who are part of the “Tesla Takedown” movement are planning to protest outside Tesla’s showrooms across the U.S. and around the world on Saturday. The global day of protests comes after the Justice Department threatened “severe consequences” for anyone who vandalizes Tesla property.