Elon Musk's xAI Acquires X, Because of Course
Zoë Schiffer Louise Matsakis Mar 28, 2025 6:35 PM Social platform X struggled after Elon Musk took over, but its fortunes improved dramatically after US President Donald Trump won reelection. Now it will be become part of Musk's AI startup xAI. Elon Musk watches US President Donald Trump enter the stadium during the 2025 Division I Men's Wrestling Championship in Philadelphia. Photograph:Elon Musk's artificial intelligence firm xAI has acquired his social media platform X in an all-stock transaction that values the company at $33 billion, including $12 billion worth of debt, the centibillionaire announced Friday. The sale comes just weeks after Musk reportedly raised another roughly $1 billion in debt financing for X that valued the company at $44 billion—the same price Musk paid for it three years ago.
'xAI and X's futures are intertwined,' Musk wrote in an X post. 'Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent. This combination will unlock immense potential by blending xAI's advanced AI capability and expertise with X's massive reach.'
Both Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, and Igor Babuschkin, the co-founder of xAI, immediately posted similar messages on X signaling their support of the acquisition. 'The future could not be brighter,' Yaccarino, the CEO of X, wrote. Musk only reposted Babuschkin's.
It is not known whether Yaccarino will stay in the same role or what the acquisition will mean for X's employees. Musk, Yaccarino, and Robert Keele, the head of xAI's legal team, did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication.
Musk bought Twitter and later renamed it X in 2022, a deal that involved taking out billions of dollars in loans from a group of Wall Street banks and other lenders. After Musk took over and X's advertising business slumped, the banks reportedly struggled to unload the loans to interested buyers. Lenders typically try to resell debt to other investors quickly to get it off their balance sheets and profit from associated fees. The Wall Street Journal dubbed the fiasco 'the worst buyout for banks since the financial crisis.'
But X's financial situation turned around after President Donald Trump was reelected and Musk was appointed to run the administration's so-called Department of Government Efficiency. More investors became interested in the debt as advertisers began returning and Musk ties to the White House and Trump deepened.
Musk also said he gave X investors a 25 percent stake in xAI last year, which helped boost the value of the social media platform and provide more security to lenders, according to reporting from the Financial Times.
While xAI previously appeared to be mostly playing catch up with rivals like OpenAI and Google, Musk gave the startup a boost by creating a massive cluster of 100,000 GPUs, enough computing resources to compete with the biggest industry players. The supercomputer, dubbed Collossus, is located in Memphis, Tennessee.
At the outset, xAI's stated mission was to understand the nature of the universe. Today, it is best known for creating an 'unfiltered' chatbot called Grok. It has been integrated as part of the X platform since late 2023.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
30 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Stock Movers: Tesla, Meta, Warner Bros
On this episode of Stock Movers: - Tesla (TSLA) shares fell after the EV-maker was hit with a pair of downgrades on Monday, underscoring mounting concerns on Wall Street about the electric-vehicle maker's outlook following last week's clash between Chief Executive Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. Both Argus Research and Baird cut the stock to the equivalent of hold ratings, cementing Tesla's reputation as the least-loved megacap stock among analysts. Shares fell 1.6% in premarket trading. - Meta (META) rose on the news over the weekend that it is in talks to make a multibillion-dollar investment into artificial intelligence startup Scale AI, according to people familiar with the matter. The financing could exceed $10 billion in value, some of the people said, making it one of the largest private company funding events of all time. The terms of the deal are not finalized and could still change, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Scale AI, whose customers include Microsoft Corp. and OpenAI, provides data labeling services to help companies train machine-learning models and has become a key beneficiary of the generative AI boom. The startup was last valued at about $14 billion in 2024, in a funding round that included backing from Meta and Microsoft. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Scale was in talks for a tender offer that would value it at $25 billion. - Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shares slid after it announced it would be splitting itself in half, unshackling its fast-growing streaming business from the struggling legacy media channels and setting up two independent companies that could pursue deals on their own. The new Global Networks business will include entertainment, sports and dozens of cable television brands such as CNN, TNT and TBS and will be headed by Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels. It will hold a 20% stake in the other Streaming and Studios business, headed by Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav, and use proceeds from that entity as a way to cut debt, the company said in a statement on Monday. The move unwinds much of the 2022 merger that combined AT&T Inc.'s WarnerMedia, which houses iconic film studios and TV franchises, and Discovery Inc., home to nonfiction documentaries and reality TV. The deal created a company weighed down with debt at a time when cable TV, its largest business, was hemorrhaging viewers and advertising dollars.
Time Business News
35 minutes ago
- Time Business News
Crypto in the Greed Zone: Why FioBit Is the Go-To Mining Platform in Bullish 2025
The Market Turns Green — And Greedy As of mid-2025, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index has re-entered the Greed territory for the first time since 2021. With Bitcoin hovering above $74,000 and Dogecoin surging after Elon Musk's latest endorsement, investors are once again pouring capital into digital assets. But while many rush into volatile trading, smart investors are choosing a low-risk, fixed-income model: FioBit cloud mining. Start mining with zero risk → $100 Free Mining Bonus for New Users The Bull Market Psychology Bull runs often trigger FOMO (fear of missing out), which leads to irrational trades. But those who profited most in previous cycles weren't day traders—they were yield-focused investors using automated tools to generate income regardless of price swings. In 2025, cloud mining with FioBit provides the perfect entry: short-term contracts, AI-managed operations, and up to $4,960/day in predictable returns. Musk, Memecoins, and Mining MomentumIn April 2025, Elon Musk sent out a simple tweet:'Dogecoin is still the people's coin.' The effect? DOGE prices surged 15% overnight, and trading volumes spiked. Platforms like FioBit, which support DOGE mining alongside BTC, ETH, and LTC, saw record signups. Flexible coin options allow diversification without risk Profits are based on real mining, not trading speculation How FioBit Helps You Mine in a Bull Market Unlike platforms that rely on DeFi or staking, FioBit leverages physical mining hardware (Antminer, WhatsMiner, etc.), hosted in secure data centers and optimized using AI. Here's why it thrives in bullish cycles: Higher network demand = more mining profitabilityContract prices are fixed, so users lock in today's ratesImmediate payouts allow reinvestment or withdrawal Example: Top Contracts as of June 2025 Every plan includes auto-payout, no fees, and instant contract settlement What Makes FioBit Unique in a Crowded Market?FioBit was launched in 2021 and has gained steam every year. But 2025 marks its real breakout moment thanks to: AI Automation: Smarter mining allocation = better yield Global Compliance: Regulated in both the U.S. and Australia 1.2M+ Users: From over 150 countries Mobile Control: Real-time earnings via iOS and Android Unlike 'too good to be true' scams, FioBit's business model is backed by real machines and regulated oversight. How to Get StartedYou don't need to be a tech genius to start mining with FioBit. Step-by-Step Guide: Visit up using only your email (no ID required)Claim your $100 free bonusChoose a contract based on your budgetStart earning with automated AI-managed mining Track your income and performance directly from your smartphone FAQs — Answered Q: Do I need ID or KYC to join FioBit? A: No. You only need an email address. It's fast, secure, and private. Q: Can I mine different coins? A: Yes. FioBit supports BTC, DOGE, ETH, and LTC. Q: Are the profits really fixed? A: Yes. Each contract has a guaranteed daily and total payout. Q: Can I exit my contract early? A: No. But you'll receive your total return automatically at the end. What Analysts Are Saying Industry watchers are bullish on cloud mining. A report from CryptoTech Review (March 2025) says:'With AI integration and real ROI tracking, cloud mining platforms like FioBit are emerging as the 'mutual funds' of the next crypto boom.' With centralized miners like Bitdeer showing declining efficiency, FioBit's short-term, transparent model stands out as a safer entry into crypto for passive investors. Final Thoughts: Don't Just HODL—Earn Daily The 2025 bull market is heating up, and while others gamble on meme coins and high-leverage trades, you can secure fixed daily profits with FioBit. Whether you're in it for DOGE, BTC, or just stable passive income, there's a plan for every level of investor. Begin your journey → Visit Claim $100 bonus and start mining within minutes TIME BUSINESS NEWS
Wall Street Journal
an hour ago
- Wall Street Journal
The Trump-Musk Feud and the Deeper Republican Rift
The alliance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk was always likely to be about as durable as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the 1939 deal Nazi Germany struck with the Soviet Union days before invading Poland. I won't extend the analogy too far for obvious reasons of taste, except to say that deals rarely last when they are made for short-term advantage between two parties with outsize ambitions but divergent characters. The more important question is: Does this split signal something fundamentally awry in the MAGA coalition? What does the quick disillusionment of the Republican Party's most prominent convert mean for the president and the party's wider fortunes? On the face of it, not much. For one thing, the rupture seems mainly personal. In some respects the MAGA movement is a personality cult. Mr. Musk wasn't that personality. The Tesla and SpaceX boss is a brilliant but mercurial man whose pathologies can lead him to dark places, as we have learned more since the breakup. Even in this White House, it seems, some decorums can't be breached. But Mr. Musk's rising animus seems also to have been based on a belated realization that the returns from his alliance were heavily asymmetric. As an example of Mr. Trump's facility for one-sided deal making, it can hardly be bettered. What Mr. Musk gave—in campaign money, in good publicity for the Department of Government Efficiency's assault on wasteful spending, in lost value for Tesla, and in his own diminished personal wealth and reputation—wasn't close to matched by whatever he was supposed to be getting in return. At least the Soviets got a chunk of Poland and the Baltic states before Barbarossa ended the relationship.
