Economic conditions & trends

Musk Sells X to xAI for $33B in All-Stock Deal

MAR 29 2025·Updated MAR 31 2025

Story

Above: The Grok X AI logo. Image credit: Jonathan Raa/Contributor/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The Facts

Elon Musk on Friday announced the sale of X (formerly Twitter) to his artificial intelligence (AI) company xAI in an all-stock transaction valued at $33 billion and $80 billion, respectively. The deal accounts for X's $12 billion debt load.
X
Wsj
The merger combines two privately held companies that already share significant resources, including engineers and data, with xAI's chatbot Grok being trained on X user data and currently integrated into the social media platform.
Dw.Com
The New York Times
LiveNOW from FOX
X has experienced significant changes since Musk's $44 billion acquisition in 2022, including staff layoffs and altered content moderation policies. According to Fidelity, by December, its worth was only around 30% of what Musk had paid.
CNN
Breitbart
Recently, internal documents revealed that X generated $91 million in ad revenue as of March 3, against a first-quarter target of $153 million. However, it is projected to generate $1.31 billion in U.S. advertising sales in 2025.
New York Post
The New York Times
The deal comes as xAI has been rapidly expanding its operations — including building what Musk claims will be the world's largest supercomputer in Memphis — and is competing with rival AI firms like OpenAI and DeepSeek.
guardian
Dw.Com
Datacenterdynamics
It follows Musk's unsuccessful February attempt to acquire OpenAI — the company he co-founded in 2015 with Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman — for $97.4 billion.
Tech Xplore
Inc

Sources Split

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CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

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The Spin

Narrative A

The merger is a strategic consolidation that will enhance AI capabilities, expand distribution reach, and create a more efficient and powerful technology company to better compete in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

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Narrative B

The deal is a financial maneuver to prop up X's struggling valuation by merging it with a more valuable AI company, establishing dominance in the AI sector, and masking X's ongoing revenue challenges and advertiser exodus.

guardian

The New York Times