Elon Musk announced Friday that his artificial intelligence company xAI has acquired X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, in an all-stock transaction. Musk said the deal values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion, factoring in $12 billion in debt from X's balance sheet. "@xAI has acquired @X in an all-stock transaction," Musk posted on X. "The combination values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion ($45B less $12B debt)." Founded by Musk in March 2023, xAI is best known for developing Grok, an AI chatbot now integrated into the X platform. "X is the digital town square where more than 600 million active users go to find the real-time source of ground truth," Musk said, adding that the company has been transformed "into one of the most efficient companies in the world," positioning it for "scalable future growth." Musk said the acquisition signals the next step in recognizing the close relationship between xAI and X. "The future of xAI and X is intertwined," he said. He emphasized that the combination "will unlock immense potential by blending xAI's advanced AI capability and expertise with X's massive reach," allowing the unified company to deliver "smarter, more meaningful experiences to billions of people." He added that the move would accelerate "human progress" while remaining committed to the core mission of "seeking truth and advancing knowledge." Musk acquired Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion and rebranded the platform as X in July 2023 as part of his broader vision to turn it into an "everything app." — Agencies
