Musk sells X
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has announced that his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, has acquired the social media platform X, which he also controls. The acquisition was confirmed in a Friday post on X, where Musk stated, “@xAI has acquired @X in an all-stock transaction.”
“Since its founding two years ago, xAI has rapidly become one of the leading AI labs in the world, building models and data centers at unprecedented speed and scale,” the tech mogul said. He described X as “the digital town square where more than 600M active users go to find the real-time source of ground truth.”
In late 2022, Musk acquired Twitter, now known as X. Following his takeover, he implemented cost-cutting measures, including far-reaching staff cuts and the renegotiations of contracts, while also relaxing some content restrictions and reinstating certain banned accounts.
Musk noted that X has been transformed into one of the most efficient companies globally, highlighting its potential for scalable growth. He has stated that “xAI and X’s futures are intertwined,” emphasizing the advantages of combining their resources: “Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent.”
AI development is one of the priorities of the government of US President Donald Trump, where Musk leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). According to analysts, the billionaire has been focused on establishing himself as a leader in the AI industry.
Earlier this year, he attempted to lead a group of investors to purchase OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, for nearly $100 billion. The company’s CEO Sam Altman, however, rejected the offer. Musk had co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but departed before it gained significant traction, and subsequently launched xAI in 2023.
