Elon Musk announced that his AI company, xAI, has officially acquired X (formerly Twitter) in an all-stock transaction.
In a post shared Friday on X, Musk wrote:
“xAI has acquired X in an all-stock transaction. The combination values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion ($45B less $12B debt).”
With the deal, the two companies—already closely connected—are now officially under the same roof.
X Now Powers xAI’s AI Ambitions
Musk said this merger brings together data, models, compute, distribution, and talent, calling the futures of xAI and X “intertwined.” The move positions X as more than a social network—it’s now a key piece of infrastructure for training and distributing AI.
xAI was founded in 2023 to compete with OpenAI and other leading AI labs. Since then, it’s rapidly grown by hiring top AI researchers from Google DeepMind, Microsoft, and OpenAI, and raising billions in funding—including a $6 billion round in December that valued the company at $45 billion. Now, with the X merger, Musk says xAI’s value has reached $80 billion.
A Combined Entity: xAI Holdings Corp
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the companies are combining under a new holding company called xAI Holdings Corp. Executives believe the merger will make it easier to raise money and move faster.
X’s current valuation, according to Musk, is $33 billion, reduced from a $45 billion enterprise value due to $12 billion in debt. That’s still higher than its most recent valuation by Fidelity, which pegged X under $10 billion after a period of turbulence.
Since Musk took X private in 2022 for $44 billion, the platform has seen sharp changes. But in recent months, its value has gone up again—driven in part by Musk’s increased political visibility and the belief that X has more influence under his leadership. Musk says X now has over 600 million active users.
Grok, OpenAI, and the AI Race
xAI has moved fast to catch up with AI leaders. Its latest model, Grok 3, launched in February and is competitive on benchmarks that test math, science, and coding ability.
Still, Musk hasn’t stopped targeting his former company, OpenAI. He’s suing the company over its shift to a for-profit structure and even made a $97 billion offer to acquire it earlier this year—an offer OpenAI’s board rejected.
While OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind continue to push forward, xAI now has something they don’t: X.
Why the X Acquisition Matters
X isn’t just a social media platform anymore. It’s a massive source of public data—something that’s increasingly valuable for AI training. It’s also a ready-made app for reaching users with AI tools like Grok, which is already built into X’s interface.
The merger shows how Musk is blending his companies to support broader goals. While this approach has raised legal concerns in the past, it’s now official: xAI and X are one. And it’s clear Musk sees X not just as a media platform—but as fuel for his push to lead in AI.
