Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence firm, xAI, has acquired his social media company X (formerly Twitter) in a deal worth 33billion(€30.5billion).MuskannouncedthetransactioninapostonX,statingthatthecombinationvaluesxAIat33billion(€30.5billion).MuskannouncedthetransactioninapostonX,statingthatthecombinationvaluesxAIat80 billion and X at 33billion(33billion(45 billion minus $12 billion in debt).

Musk’s Vision for the Merger

In his announcement, Musk emphasized the strategic alignment between the two companies:

"xAI and X's futures are intertwined," he wrote. "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."

However, key details of the deal remain undisclosed, as both companies are privately held and not required to publicly share financial specifics. It is also unclear whether the acquisition will bring immediate changes for X users.

Background: Musk’s Troubled History with X

Musk originally acquired Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, rebranding it as X and implementing sweeping changes, including mass layoffs, relaxed content moderation policies, and a revamped verification system. These moves sparked backlash, leading to an exodus of advertisers and a sharp decline in revenue.

xAI’s Growing Ambitions in a Competitive AI Market

Launched in 2023, xAI has been rapidly expanding to compete with major AI players like OpenAI (creator of ChatGPT) and China’s DeepSeek. In February, xAI unveiled Grok-3, its latest AI chatbot, while also scaling up data center capacity to train more advanced models.

Musk also made an unsuccessful $97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI earlier this year, which was rejected.

Musk’s Expanding Influence

As the world’s richest person and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Musk has also gained political clout in Washington. Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Musk has been leading cost-cutting efforts as head of the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE).

The acquisition further solidifies Musk’s control over two key pillars of his tech empire—AI and social media—though challenges remain in stabilizing X’s finances and competing in the fast-evolving AI sector.