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Elon Musk ’s AI startup , xAI , has develop his social media platform X , formerly know as Twitter , in an all - stock bargain , he announce in apost on X Friday .
“ xAI has acquire X in an all - bloodline dealing , ” Musk said . “ The combining values xAI at $ 80 billion and X at $ 33 billion ( $ 45B less $ 12B debt ) . ”
Musk went on to describe the two companies ’ futurity as “ intertwine . ” He added , “ Today , we formally take the stair to combine the data , framework , compute , distribution and talent . ”
The accomplishment places X — the highly influential social media platform Musk buy in 2022 under its former name , Twitter — firmly under the umbrella of Musk ’s AI inauguration , which he base in 2023 to contend with OpenAI . While xAI ’s product , include its AI chatbot Grok , were tightly integrate into the ex platform before this slew , Friday ’s accomplishment further conflate two of Musk ’s most high-pitched - profile companies .
According to publications include The Wall Street Journal , plowshare of X and xAI will beexchanged for shares of a new retention companycalled xAI Holdings Corp. The WSJ also account that executive at both troupe believed that it would be easygoing to resurrect money for a unite entity .
Musk — who also leads Tesla , SpaceX , and Neuralink — notes in his Emily Price Post that this deal values X at $ 33 billion ( lowered from an enterprise note value of $ 45 billion due to the society ’s $ 12 billion in debt ) . Musk originally purchase Adam for $ 44 billion in October 2022 and make it private . However , the valuation has sweep dramatically in recent days . At one point , Fidelityvalued X at less than $ 10 billion .
In the month since the inauguration of President Donald Trump — for whom Musk aggressively campaigned and for whom Musk now serve under as a special advisor extend DOGE — X ’s valuation has get up , largely because investors believe the platform more influential now . Musk said in his post on Friday that X has more than 600 million active users .
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Musk launchedxAI in 2023and has since beefed up the startup with diligence - result AI researchers from Google DeepMind , Microsoft , and OpenAI , andbuilt out the monumental AI data point centersneeded to catch up with other frontier AI developer . To fuel these efforts , Musk has go away on a historic fundraising campaign , including a$6 billion funding round in December that treasure the startup at $ 45 billion . According to Musk , xAI ’s valuation is now even higher , at $ 80 billion .
xAI has largely been successful in its demented dash to catch up with OpenAI , Google DeepMind , and Anthropic . In February , the inauguration free Grok 3 , a frontier AI manikin that ’s competitive with the industry ’s leading AI model on benchmark measuring mathematics , skill , and coding .
But xAI ’s successes have not stopped Musk from meddling with OpenAI , a inauguration he co - founded with Sam Altman . Musk is currently endeavor to baffle OpenAI ’s for - profit transition — which it involve to nail to secure succeeding funding — in more mode than one . The billionaire proprietor of xAI has madeOpenAI ’s for - net conversion the centerpiece of his causa against OpenAI . Musk also submitted a $ 97 billion coup bid for Altman ’s startup in February . OpenAI ’s board right away rejected the idea , but it alreadymay have driven up the market cost for OpenAI ’s asset .
One of the major reward that xAI has over OpenAI and other startups is its admission to X. The large consistency of posts that X has accumulated over the years gives xAI a significant reward in the race for AI grooming datum . Further , X gives Musk ’s AI startup a Brobdingnagian consumer app to reach out users in .
Musk has a history of glaze over the lines between his many companionship , which haslanded him in sound trouble before . With xAI ’s acquisition of X , the two are now effectively one — and the move suggests that X ’s true value may lie in gain ground Musk ’s broad AI ambitions .
This story has been updated with additional details about the structure of the deal .
