Elon Musk has announced that his artificial intelligence (A.I.) start-up company xAI has merged with X, his social media company, in an all-stock deal.
According to Musk, the transaction values xAI at $80 billion U.S. and X, formerly known as Twitter, at $33 billion U.S.
X and xAI are each privately held companies and their stocks do not trade on a public exchange.
Musk said on social media that the merger should “unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach.”
Musk, who also runs electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA) and commercial space company SpaceX, bought Twitter in late 2022 for $44 billion U.S.
After acquiring Twitter, Musk took the social media company private, rebranded it as X, and undertook massive cost cuts.
xAI is involved in the development of generative A.I. and is seen as a competitor of other A.I. start-ups such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
xAI was valued at $50 billion U.S. last fall in a funding round that raised $5 billion U.S. for the company.
The merger of xAI with social media platform X comes at a difficult time for Musk and his businesses.
The involvement Musk has with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has led to a backlash against him and the companies he runs.
The backlash is most evident with publicly traded Tesla, whose sales have dropped off sharply, and whose vehicles and showrooms have been vandalized.
The stock of Tesla is currently trading at $263.55 U.S. per share, having declined 31% so far this year.
