Elon Musk has announced that his AI company, xAI, has acquired X in an all-stock transaction. This move consolidates the two entities, already linked through xAI’s Grok chatbot’s integration into X.
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According to Musk, the acquisition values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion, factoring in X’s $12 billion debt. “xAI and X’s futures are intertwined,” he stated, outlining plans to integrate “data, models, compute, distribution and talent.” The acquisition leverages X’s extensive social platform reach to disseminate xAI’s AI capabilities.
While Musk’s post lacks detailed specifics, the motivations behind the acquisition appear to be both strategic and financial. X, which Musk acquired for $43 billion in 2022, is now integrated with xAI, which, like many AI companies, has been aggressively raising capital.
This merger could alleviate some of the debt incurred during X’s privatization, while potentially utilizing X’s data for AI training. This manoeuvre echoes Musk’s 2016 Tesla acquisition of SolarCity for $2.6 billion.
