Elon Musk sold his social network X to his artificial intelligence company xAI

Elon Musk’s attempts to buy OpenAI have been unsuccessful, but one of his companies made an equally surprising acquisition this week. Elon Musk revealed on X on Friday that his artificial intelligence company xAI acquired his social network X in an all-stock transaction which values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion (including $12 billion in debt).

“xAI and X’s futures are intertwined,” Musk said. “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. The combined company will deliver smarter, more meaningful experiences to billions of people while staying true to our core mission of seeking truth and advancing knowledge. This will allow us to build a platform that doesn’t just reflect the world but actively accelerates human progress.”

The two companies have been working closely together since xAI’s founding in early 2023, but now X is officially part of Musk’s AI firm. xAI’s chatbot Grok was built into X months ago, and its prominence will likely only grow in the months ahead.

The valuation of the social network formerly known as Twitter has fluctuated wildly since Musk’s acquisition of the platform in 2022, but it has rebounded quickly since the 2024 election. Musk’s robust role in the federal government has made investors believe that X carries more influence, especially given Musk’s prolific posting on the platform.

Shortly after the announcement, X CEO Linda Yaccarino shared Musk’s post with the following message: “X + xAI. The future could not be brighter ✨”