Elon Musk's xAI Acquires X in $45 Billion Deal to Boost Chatbot Grok
Elon Musk’s xAI has acquired the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in a $45 billion all-stock deal that includes $12 billion in debt.
The transaction values X at $33 billion and xAI at $80 billion. Musk said the futures of the two companies are “intertwined” and that the acquisition would enable xAI to better harness the data and resources at X to better train its chatbot Grok.
It’s not clear what the deal means for the leadership at X, or whether the deal will attract regulatory scrutiny. However, one of the biggest stakeholders in both companies, the Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said the value of his investments would rise to between $4-$5 billion following the acquisition.
The price tag is also interesting because it’s very close to the $44 billion Musk paid to take Twitter private in 2022. Musk is currently facing legal challenges, including a lawsuit that alleges he defrauded former Twitter shareholders by delaying the disclosure of his investment.
xAI is less than two years old and recently raised $10 billion to ramp up its capabilities to compete with the likes of OpenAI and DeepSeek. The company’s supercomputer cluster in Memphis, Tennessee is touted as the largest in the world.
The merger is likely to enhance the distribution of xAI products through the X platform, which has seen a resurgence in interest from advertisers since Musk made changes to his management team.